Rising Above
by Evanescence2189
Summary: For those searching to find themselves, during this bleak age, hope began in a modest professor's home on the countryside. Peter/OC
1. Just the Beginning

**Summary:**** For those searching to find themselves, during this bleak age, hope began in a modest professor's home on the countryside.**** Peter/OC**

**A/N Just for future reference, Peter and Alexa are fifteen, Susan is thirteen, Edmund eleven, and Lucy eight, so they're maybe a little older than how they were in the book or movie. Or I could be wrong, but anywho, on with the story!**

**Disclaimer: No, I don't own Chronicles of Narnia, *sighs* but I have created my OC, Alexa Williams, and . **

_~Rising Above~_

Chapter One – Just the Beginning

I hugged my mother tightly. I knew that this could be the last time I ever would…

"Bye Mum," I said, closing my eyes tightly in attempt to block out the tears that so desperately wanted to flow. She kissed the top of my head and gave me one last squeeze.

"Good-bye Dear, remember to write me." I nodded with a smile, wiping a stray tear from my face before grabbing my luggage. I gave my heavy suitcase to the man throwing everything into the baggage hold, but I kept the carry-on bag for myself and slung it over my shoulder. When I was about to walk toward the boarding line, I paused.

_One more time. _I told myself. I looked back to see my mother crying heavily, but she was trying her best to smile for me. I could feel the tears prickling behind my eyes as I rushed forward to hug her one last time. I was slightly surprised when I felt her put something into my bag.

When I pulled back to look at her questioningly, she just pointed down at the parcel to show what she had put in. It was a small tin can, and I pulled it out to open it.

It was full of lollipops with a variety of flavors, all bunched in the little container. I peered up again in confusion to see my mother with a true smile on her face; albeit a small smile, but it was genuine all the same.

"Your grandmother wanted me to give you these to have for the summer, or for however long they last. So don't eat them all on the train now," she warned, but her smile gave her away, and the stern tone she tried to procure did not reach her eyes.

"I won't, Mother," I replied quietly.

"Good girl. You'll be staying with a professor…Digory Kirke, I believe is his name. I think you'll be staying with another family of children, so you won't be alone," she paused and stared at me for a moment. "Try to make friends, dear. It would do you good."

I sighed and nodded in response, not willing to stir her up again, but in truth, I much rather preferred books to people. Books held intelligence.

However, I could see that she was steeling herself, trying to be ready to let me go for however long we would have to be without each other.

"Go ahead, dear, before the train leaves. I love you." I nodded, trying my best to offer a smile.

"Love you too," I said, and wiped my eyes, which were most likely red and puffy by now. I readjusted the bag on my shoulder and walked slowly towards the train door. I was not really paying attention to where I was going and bumped into a shoulder rather hard. With a small yelp I looked up to see a tall blonde boy, wearing a rather lost expression. I had to crane my neck a little to see his face clearly, but I could see the surprise flicker across his face.

"Sorry, didn't see you there," he said rather quickly, but turned around to give the clerk his ticket. A younger girl called out to him to get his attention, and pulled him toward the doors of the train.

"It's all right," I had said softly, but I would have been surprised if he had heard me at all over all the hustle and bustle of the busy station. I supposed my guess was correct when he didn't acknowledge me again.

_Oh, well_, I thought.

I tucked a lock of thick, ebony hair behind my ear; I had brushed it only about an hour and a half prior, but strands were already escaping their loose plait that ran down the back of my thin, violet sweater. I moved on to give the boarding man my ticket and showed my ID badge. I didn't know if the latter was required, but I did, just in case.

Following the line of children, I stepped inside behind a boy, seemingly younger than me in appearance, yet still taller. He was scowling and bickering with the same girl I had seen earlier. I noticed with a curious eye, but kept walking until I saw the suite with my section number on it. To my surprise, the same blonde I bumped into earlier was sitting next to a downtrodden little girl, a child, whom I also judged from appearance, had not yet surpassed primary school. He was speaking earnestly with her, trying to comfort her and dry her tears, so I tried not to make too much noise as I took a seat on the opposite side—by the window.

When I saw the still arguing girl and the boy, dark-haired and ill tempered, that I had just passed not too long ago, I realized they must be either related, or all knew each other somehow. But I brushed off these thoughts in favor of taking out the book I had wanted to start reading for the past couple of days. Things had been so busy lately, I barely had time to think with this war England had been forced to wage in.

I sighed quietly, and began reading, dully noting that the still-surly bow had sat down next to me, being that it was the last available sear. Well, technically speaking he was sitting next to me, but he pushed himself all the way to the left of me, next to the door to the suite.

_I suppose he's a bit antisocial. Can't exactly judge him, now can I? _I thought sardonically. And after about half an hour of sitting silently and trying to read (the bickering made it impossible), I merely pretended to do so while I discreetly glanced at the other four.

With my previous thought about their relations, I was leaning towards the former; the aforementioned boy and the little girl looked much the same (save for hair color, the child's was a lighter brunette), while the eldest ( assumed it was the blonde) and the other girl seemed to have similar mannerisms: straight posture, tense disposition, and a habit of scolding the younger two for small manners (slouching, to name one), among other things.

I closed my eyes and rested my head against the cushion of the seat for a moment, it was seven in the morning and I was exhausted from getting up so early. But I couldn't fall asleep. The sounds of the train's movements rang clearly in my head, and the periodical ring of a gear shifting disturbed any remnant thought of sleep that I might have had. Then I couldn't block out my thoughts. Voices of quietly crying children in the background of what I could hear, especially the child sitting in front of me, made me realize…I wanted to cry as well. By the time I tried to read again, I was too distracted to get fully into my book. The words on the page couldn't take me away from the surfacing memories invading my thoughts.

_A loud blast woke me from my sleep and the vibrations from the impact sent me tumbling to the floor. _

The planes, _I thought._

_I quickly picked myself up and looked out side my window to see__ war planes soaring through the sky. Large, black objects fell from their hull onto the city, creating deep impact tremors that made everything in the house wobble and shake. I heeded my mother's instruction and grabbed what belongings I could, just in case I wouldn't come back to the house, and ran to my parents' room. I opened the door to see that Mum was finishing collecting her things._

"_Let's go!" she said as she moved quickly towards me. Both of us ran out of the house, only pausing to open the shed that was built into the ground. Most homes in the city had started building them in the past couple of years, preparing for the worst. Once inside, I broke down crying in my mothers arms.__ My logical and collected mind crumbling as the rush of adrenaline subsided, I was left with only my fear. I could here the planes and guns high above our heads—_

"Are you all right?" The question brought me out of my reverie, and I looked up startled. The girl, a pretty brunette with piercing gray eyes, looked at me with concern, and I took a deep breath in attempt to calm myself.

"Erm…yes. Thank you, I'm fine," I mumbled quickly and blushed as I put a hand to the bridge of my nose, trying to stop the oncoming headache.

"Are you sure?" she asked. I nodded with a small, hesitant smile. She returned it with a slight smile of her own, and went back to reading her own book.

"How long are we going to be away from home?"

I took a couple of deep breaths and looked over at her and the boy who was clearly trying his hardest to console her.

"When the war is over, we can go back...right now, let's just try and make the best of it. Okay, Lu?" he asked. Like them, and the entirety of the passengers on this train, we were being sent away to different homes in the countryside. We were being sent away from the collection of cities in England, such as Finchley, my hometown, in which the war and bombings were affecting.

_He isn't very good at comforting. Something tells me he doesn't handle tears well._ I switched my gaze from the blonde, to the child.

_Hmm, maybe...maybe I can cheer her up, if only a little_, I thought, after seeing the tears streaks the went down her face.

I took out the tin can my mother gave me, and looked uncertainly between her and the can for a moment.

_It's not so hard...just say hello. Offer her the sweets_, I mentally prepped myself. It would probably be awkward, but I thought I should at least try.

"H-Hello," I started. Everyone in the suite glanced over to me as she regarded me silently.

"I'm...I'm Alexa…would you like one of these?" I opened the lid, and when she saw the many different flavors of sweets inside, a small smile blossomed on her face. But then she looked uncertainly at me, a silent question in her eyes.

"Go ahead. Trust me, these will last me for a couple of months. I don't eat candy that often."

In a second, a true smile was on her face, even when she looked over to the boy next to her with pleading eyes.

"All right, just one though, Lucy," he told her.

_Lucy_, I thought._ That's her name. I'll have to remember that_.

_Lucy _happily took one of the strawberry lollipops and grabbed my hand.

"Thanks, I'm Lucy," she said shaking my hand. I couldn't help but smile in return.

"You're welcome, Lucy. Nice to meet you," I said.

"Alexa. So that's your name." I turned my head to the other girl.

"Yes, I'm Alexa Williams…would you like one as well? There's plenty to go around," I said, rather awkwardly as I held out my hand to her. She shook it with an apologetic expression.

"No, that's quite all right. I'm sorry, where are my manners? I'm Susan, Lucy's sister. That's Edmund sitting next to you, my younger brother, and this is Peter." Edmund just nodded in my direction, but Peter smiled slightly and shook my hand.

"Nice to meet you," he said with a small smile. It was pleasant nonetheless.

"Hello," I replied politely. I offered him a lollipop from the container as well, but I was surprised when he actually did take one with a "thanks."

"So, Alexa, who are you going to be staying with, do you know?" Susan asked quietly so Lucy wouldn't have to hear. The subject would just depress the child even more than she had been earlier.

"Well, right before I left to board the train my mother told me I would be staying with a man named…um…oh gosh, what was his name...Professor Kirke? Yes, that's what his name was." I was so bothered with staring into space trying to remember the man's name that I didn't notice the looks of surprise and recognition on Susan, Edmund, and Peter's faces.

"Who will you four be with?" I asked them, still quite oblivious.

"Well, it seems we'll get the chance to get to know each other better after all. We will also be going to Professor Kirke's house. Isn't that something?" Susan replied. Edmund was silent, but Peter smiled and I returned it, grateful that I'd at least be with people I could get along with.

Conversation slowly died, and we all sat in a comfortable silence for the rest of the train ride.

_I'm so sick of this war, but hopefully I'll be able to forget it for a little while if I'm at least able to...make friends...maybe these people won't be so_ bad.

* * *

All five of us stood on a wooden deck right in front of where the train stopped, and looked around for our ride. Eventually, after a few minutes, we heard a loud horn and a car approaching. We ran to the other side of the deck to meet the car, only to have it pass right by us, almost splashing Edmund with mud from the wheels. We all looked at each other in confusion, thinking that was the ride we were supposed to have been on. After a moment of silence, Susan spoke.

"The professor knew we were coming," she stated slowly.

"Perhaps we were incorrectly labeled," Edmund offered, examining his tag.

"I doubt they would have done the same thing to two different families," Peter responded with a tired sigh. I agreed with him, but I said nothing. Edmund seemed to be quite the prickly person, especially when someone corrected him.

A few seconds after Peter spoke, an older woman driving a horse and carriage full of hay stopped in front of us. She looked us over, as if we were wasting her precious time. Peter and Susan gave each other a glance.

_What's her problem?_ With one look to the rest, I could tell they were thinking along the same lines.

"Mrs. Mcready?" Peter asked hesitantly.

"I'm afraid so... Is this it then, haven't you brought anything else?" She regarded our small amounts of luggage.

_How muc__h was she expecting me to bring, my house?_

"No Mam', it's just us," Peter told her. Mrs. Mcready gave us one more look.

"Small favors…get in," she said, nodding towards the back of the carriage where we could climb in. Once Peter and Edmund had helped all of us, we were off towards our new...home, of sorts. It was definitely _not_ what I was expecting.

A large mansion awaited us as we pulled into the cobblestone driveway, and all of us gaped in awe as we filed in.

"Professor Kirke is not accustomed to having children in this house," Mrs. Mcready started.

_Oh here we go. I__t was too good to be true_, I thought wryly.

"And as such there are a few rules you need to follow," she continued as we walked up the stairs.

"No shoutin' or runnin', no use of the dumb waiter."

_Oh no,_ I thought as I saw Susan about to touch a fancy looking statue. I tried to stop her, but I was too late.

"And _no_, touching of the _historical_ _artifacts_!" Susan, Lucy, and I jumped, while Peter and Edmund just looked at each other knowingly.

"And above all, there should be _no_ disturbing of the Professor," she said with an air of finality.

_I wonder how much the Professor pays her. With that attitude, probably not much._ I tried my best _not_ to snicker at my thoughts. God forbid she heard a sound of joy.

We were showed to all of our rooms, which were on the second floor. I was sharing a room with the girls, while Peter and Edmund also shared a room. I didn't know why we were sharing rooms when there ought to be at least twenty in the house, but I was more or less content. Despite the circumstances of our meeting, I liked Lucy, and Susan was pleasant enough.

The first thing I did that night after I unpacked, was plop down on my bed and go to sleep. I didn't know about the rest of them, but I was exhausted and hadn't slept well the night before. I could vaguely hear the radio being turned off, along with some arguing before I drifted off to sleep.

_I have a feeling this summer is going to get _very_ interesting, indeed._

I had no bloody idea.

**Chapter one of Rising Above.**** Let me know what you guys thought! :D**

_**Edited 12/09**__**/12**_


	2. Through the Wardrobe

**I'm back folks! Remember, if you have any questions I'll be happy to answer them. Also, for the purpose of diversity, the descriptions of the Pevensies' appearances may be slightly altered here and there from that of the movies, as the books were quite different. So you can expect them to look mostly as seen in the film, just with minor adjustments.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Narnia or any of its characters, just Alexa. She's my OC.**

* * *

_~Rising Above_~

Chapter Two – Through the Wardrobe

I woke up in the morning to the many wonderful sounds of quarreling. I reluctantly opened my eyes to see Susan trying to get a brush through Lucy's knotted, medium length, curly hair, which reached only a few inches below the shoulder. Even from across the room I could see the thick knots. So, I got up, brushed my teeth, got dressed, and moved over to where Susan was struggling.

"That looks like fun," I commented, a small grin playing on my lips.

"Um, good morning Alexa...do you think you could help me here?" Susan asked, sounding a bit annoyed with her task.

"Please? I think she's trying to kill me," said Lucy, who winced as Susan pulled on a particularly obstinate strand.

"...Sure," I replied, and helped in parting Lucy's hair in half. I took the left side and another brush, and together in fifteen minutes, we managed to succeed in getting all the tangles out without injuring Lucy further. Susan slid an olive-colored headband behind her ears, finishing the look.

"Thanks Susan, Alexa. Ow…my head hurts," she said as she held her head with one hand. I chuckled a bit at that, and put a hand lightly on her shoulder.

"We did the best we could with that mess." Susan and I laughed while Lucy just pouted.

"Come on, let's head to breakfast," Susan said through her giggles.

* * *

Peter and I sat on the couch, bored out of our minds, while Susan read the next extremely long word out of a gigantic dictionary that sat on the glass table. I or Peter would have to guess the definition of whatever impossible word Susan found next. Edmund laid on the ground with an even more unenthused look on his face, not even trying to read the book that rested open on his chest. Lucy just looked out the window to the heavily raining sky, trying but failing to daydream.

"Gastrovascular." Peter groaned. I laughed a little.

_Haha, it's your turn._

"Come on, Peter, gastrovascular," Susan persisted. I swung my gaze over to him. He gave me a smile when I laughed at his pathetic expression.

"Is it Latin?" He asked with a sigh.

"Is it Latin for 'worst game ever invented,'" quipped Edmund. Peter and I shared amused grins, while Susan huffed and closed the over-sized dictionary with a little more force than necessary.

"We could play hide and seek," Lucy suggested. Peter groaned again.

"Please, Peter?" the little girl begged, giving him the most adorable doe eyes I had ever seen. He had no chance, I could tell Lucy already had him around her little finger. _I_ wouldn't even be able to say no to that face.

"Pretty please?" she pleaded again. Peter sighed and I knew he was beat.

"One, two, three…" Peter looked at Lucy knowingly, and she smiled widely before taking off. I followed suite when Edmund got up, protesting all the way, while Susan went off to look for her own hiding place.

Five minutes later, I saw Susan hide in a trunk while I hid in a nearby closet. I could hear scuffles of feet and some arguing between Edmund and Lucy before there were a few moments of silence. About thirty seconds went by before my little closet door came open. Peter stood in front of me, wearing a grin. I returned it as he helped me out of the little space.

"Got you."

"How did you find me?" I asked with a blush.

"I heard a closet door open when I was counting, and I assumed it was this one. I sort of guessed," he replied.

"Well, good guess. Let's find the others." The words had barely escaped my mouth when we heard Lucy shouting and Edmund was trying to shush her. Peter and I shared knowing grins before taking off toward the voices. We walked into the room to see both Edmund and Lucy out in the open, standing in front of a wardrobe. They would have been still bickering if we hadn't come into the room.

"You know, I don't think you two have quite got the idea of this game," Peter stated with a wry grin.

"But weren't you wondering where I was?" Lucy asked, clearly confused.

"That's the point, he's supposed to seek you," Edmund said rather exasperatedly. I couldn't help but silently agree, well, without the annoying attitude. This was why I tried my best _not_ to socialize. And as Susan came running in, I felt like slipping out of the room. It looked as if a family argument was brewing.

"Does this mean I win?" she asked.

"I don't think Lucy wants to play anymore," Peter said with a frown. Lucy stepped closer, her eyebrows furrowing is confusion.

"But I've been gone for hours," Lucy persisted, and pointed behind her. "And I disappeared through this wardrobe!" We could only look at her with incredulous expressions.

* * *

Peter, Susan, Edmund and I were searching all around the wardrobe from top to bottom, and we couldn't find any forest Lucy was talking about with fauns and talking animals. The whole idea sounded absurd, but I couldn't find it in my heart to tell that to Lucy.

"Lucy the only wood in here is the back of the wardrobe," Susan said.

"One game at a time Lu, we don't all have your imagination," Peter said in agreement. I couldn't help but once again, agree as well. There was nothing magical about this wardrobe, although I could admit, it would probably make for an interesting fantasy.

"But I wasn't imagining!" Lucy exclaimed. "It was all different a moment ago, I promise it was. There was a forest, and snow, and a faun named Tumnus, and a Wi—"

"That's enough Lucy," Susan reprimanded her.

"I wouldn't lie! Not about this," Lucy insisted. I kept quiet, stepping back from the center of the room. My earlier assumptions had been correct, in that this looked like a family affair.

"Well, I believe you." I snapped my head in Edmund's direction. This would be a first; if he wasn't snarky and obnoxious, Edmund was even more antisocial than me. I had a feeling this wasn't going to end well.

"You do?" Lucy asked, shock registering in her demeanor.

"Yes, of course. Didn't I tell you about the football field in the bathroom cupboard?" At this I closed my eyes for a second in annoyance. That was mean and uncalled for. Lucy looked as if she was trying so hard not let tears escape, but this just puzzled me even more. Why would she try so hard to prove there was a magical world if she had just been pretending?

"Now will you just stop?" Peter said in exasperation. "You just _have_ to make everything worse."

_Oh, _that_ will definitely help the situation._ I tried not to roll my eyes.

"It was just a joke," Edmund defended himself.

"When are you going to learn to grow up?" Peter asked patronizingly as he raised his voice.

"_Shut up!_ You think you're just like _Dad_, but you're _not!_" Edmund looked furious and I couldn't help but feel sorry for him. His comment was rude but Peter didn't make it any better. Edmund stormed out of the room while Peter just looked shocked at his brother's outburst.

Susan gave him a piercing glance.

"Well that was nicely handled," she said sarcastically before walking off herself.

_My thoughts exactly._

I suddenly felt out of place in the tension filled room.

"But, it really was there," Lucy said, her eyes pleading with Peter to believe her.

"Susan's right Lucy, that's enough," he said to her before walking off himself, sparing me a dejected look as he passed.

"I'm sorry, Lucy," I said with a sigh. She didn't answer me, but only nodded, crestfallen. I spared Lucy one more glance before following Peter out the door.

* * *

I woke up to what I thought was the next morning, but was actually probably a little past midnight. I looked up to see who committed the offending "wake-up-call" to find Lucy on my bed trying to wake me.

"Alexa, wake up! I have to tell you all something!" she exclaimed.

Five minutes later a tired Susan, a groggy Peter, and a surprisingly awake Edmund all stood in the girls' room while Lucy explained how she talked to her faun again, supposedly called "Mr. Tumnus." But when she said that she even saw Edmund there, my grogginess left me in my curiosity. This perked up Susan's and Peter's interest as well, and we all looked over to Edmund in surprise.

"What _were _you doing there Edmund?" Lucy asked him, a bit confused herself. The boy in question looked quite fidgety as Peter's direct gaze was on him, questioning him with his eyes to explain.

"I was just playing along. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have encouraged her, Peter. But you know what little children are like these days, they just don't know when to stop pretending."

I looked at him wide eyes.

_Seriously?_ I thought. He probably just said that to save himself from being ridiculed. Meanwhile, it looked as if Peter was about to strangle the boy for his stupidity. Lucy, blushing scarlet, immediately started crying and she bolted from the room. I was just too shocked to respond. Susan ran after her, however, while Peter sighed in exasperation as he got up to follow, shoving Edmund onto Susan's unmade bed when he tried to come as well. Getting over my reverie, I trailed behind.

We kept walking fast through the corridors of the house until we saw Lucy crying and clinging desperately to…whom I assumed to be the Professor. He didn't appear to appreciate personal contact very much.

It was then that Mrs. Mcready came out from another hallway wearing a pink, fluffy robe.

_Hmm, I wouldn't have thought her the type_, I thought.

"You children are one shenanigan shy of sleeping in the _stable!_" She only paused at seeing Professor Kirke. "Oh...Professor." She began to apologize, but he cut her off with a short wave of a hand.

"It's all right Mrs. Mcready. I'm sure there's an explanation, but right now I think this one is in need of a drink," he said, motioning to Lucy to go with the house keeper. Once they left, however, we were stuck. We tried to back away slowly, but the professor cleared his throat, in effect, calling for our attention. He certainly wasn't done with us yet.

Professor Kirke gestured with a hand for us to follow him, where he lead us into his study. He sat down at his desk and put some tobacco in his pipe before addressing the three of us.

"It seems you have upset the delicate internal balance of my housekeeper." He gave us a pointed look that said, "_care to explain?_"

"We're very sorry, sir, it shan't happen again," Peter said, quickly grabbing both Susan and my hand to leave, but Susan wouldn't have it. She yanked her hand out of his grasp and stayed where she stood, while I blushed and slipped mine out before he was able to notice.

"It's our sister, sir," Susan began with an exasperated sigh.

"Ah, the weeping girl," he recognized.

"She's upset," I added.

"Hence the weeping," he commented dryly.

"It doesn't matter, we can handle it," Peter said as he put a hand on both Susan's and my shoulder, urging us to move.

"I can see that," said the professor. Sarcasm dripped with every word.

"She thinks she's found a magical land...in the upstairs wardrobe," Susan started, but was cut off by a suddenly excited Professor Kirke.

"What did you say?" he asked as he stood up. He moved from around the desk, and invited us to sit on the nearby couches in his office.

"Lucy thinks she's found a forest inside," Peter clarified. He sat down on the couch across from the Professor. I took a seat on the farther side of Peter and remained quiet. It wasn't really much of my business anyway.

"She won't stop going on about it," Susan added.

"What was it like?" he asked in amazement.

"Like talking to a lunatic!" Susan said in exasperation. I gave her a sideways look before returning my attention to Professor Kirke.

"No, no, no, not her, the forest," the Professor asked again. I raised my eyebrows in surprise. So, he believed her.

_I wonder why...he looks suspicious._

"You're not saying you believe her?" Peter asked incredulously.

"You don't?" Professor Kirke replied.

"But of course not, logically it's impossible," Susan stated. Which was true, but I found logic to be severely restricting. It was the only reason why I read books at all, to get away from the constraints of daily life, to breach the impossible with imagination and creativity. Nonetheless, Lucy's story was preposterous. This wasn't a novel. This was real life, and there was no possible way on earth that she wasn't just making it up.

"She has a point," I said. "I mean, Lucy's story was a nice fantasy, but that has to be all it is..." The Professor frowned, and shook his head.

"How do you know?"

"Well," said Susan," Edmund said they were only pretending."

"That is a point. But allow me to ask you this, does your experience lead you to regard your brother or your sister to be the more reliable? Or rather, the more truthful?" he asked.

"Up until now...I would have said Lucy every time," Peter admitted. The Professor turned to look at Susan, who nodded in agreement, though she could not meet his eyes.

"A charge of lying against someone whom you have always found truthful is a very serious thing, indeed," said the Professor.

"We were afraid it might not even be lying...maybe there is something wrong with Lucy," said Susan, who shared a worried look with Peter. I raised a skeptic brow, one that didn't go unnoticed by the Professor. He glanced at me before speaking.

"Madness, you mean?" he said coolly. "She surely did not have the look of one who was insane."

"But..." Susan started, then stopped herself. I could see that she didn't exactly know how to respond. Professor Kirke was clever, I would give him that.

"Logic," he muttered. "What logic are they teaching nowadays?" He paused, then began again, addressing all three of us.

"There are only three possibilities: either she is a liar, she is mad, or she is telling the truth. We have established that she is not known to be a liar, she does not appear to be insane on any level, so, we must assume that she is telling the truth."

"But how could that be, sir?" Peter asked.

"How do you mean?" the Professor returned.

"Wouldn't the forest Lucy found be there all the time, then? Not there one minute and gone the next?"

"What has that anything to do with it?"

"Well, if something is real, it ought to be there all the time."

"Is it?" Peter remained quiet. Again, I could tell the Professor had confused him. I was as well; even if it was real, there was no way Lucy could have been gone for "hours" in the wardrobe.

"But how could she have had the time? She claimed to have been away for hours, but Peter and I found her after a couple of minutes," I said.

"This alone makes the story all the more likely. If she had been pretending, she would have come out after a reasonable amount of time," said the Professor. "And it's only plausible that another world would have a separate time of its own, if you think of it by _logical_ means."

"...Then...what should we do?" asked Susan. He glanced over at her with a rather sharp expression.

"Well, my dear young lady, we might just try minding our own business."

* * *

I stood behind Susan and Edmund, who was at bat, as Peter pitched the ball. It went straight forward through the air and "accidentally" hit Edmund in the side. He wasn't paying attention to the ball anyway.

"Ow!"

"Whoops, my apologies."

_That was the most insincere apology I've ever heard. Not that I'm complaining, Edmund deserves everything he's getting._

"Wake up, Dolly Daydream!" Susan and I laughed as Edmund got ready to bat.

"Why can't we play hide and seek again?" Edmund asked. I raised an eyebrow.

_Yeah right._ Lucy looked up for a moment to give Edmund a cursory glance before going back to her book.

"I thought you said it was a kid's game," Peter said, throwing the cricket ball between his hands.

"Besides, we could all use the fresh air," Susan said with an optimistic smile. The weather was nice today, for once. Lucy, however, didn't feel like playing cricket, so she stuck to reading while we played. Usually I would agree with her in that respect, but Susan and Peter had both urged me to play, otherwise the teams wouldn't be even.

Susan was catcher, I was waiting to bat. Edmund just wanted to be a pain in the arse.

"It's not like there isn't air inside," said boy quipped. The comment wiped the smile off Susan's face.

"Are you ready?" Peter asked a bit impatiently.

"Are you?" his younger brother challenged. Not to be outdone, Peter pitched the ball fast. It bounced off the ground, and Edmund hit it as hard as he could. We all stopped and watched as the ball went flying through a window with a distinct crash.

* * *

"Nice," I said. Well, we found the ball. I looked down to see a whole suite of armor in pieces on the ground.

"Way to go, Ed," Peter commented.

"You bowled it!" he shouted defensively. More shouting could be heard coming from downstairs.

"The Mcready!" Susan exclaimed in alarm. We abandoned the site and ran through the hallway, looking for some means of escape. Just when we were about to go downstairs, we could hear her footsteps coming up to meet us. The five of us ran in the opposite direction as fast as we could, racing through the hallway, until finally Edmund was able to open a door. We all rushed in the room, but stopped when we saw what was inside: the wardrobe that started yesterday's mess.

"You've got to be kidding," Susan said, quite obviously annoyed. At the sounds of footsteps coming closer, Peter ushered all of us inside, and only fully closed the door when he heard the main door opening. We started to move backwards, pushing and shoving through the many fur coats and dust balls until we all fell backwards onto white powder. I felt my face grow warm, as I had accidentally fallen down, sitting on Peter's foot. I moved quickly to the side, thinking he hadn't noticed. When I heard a chuckle, however, I turned my head to see Peter's amused expression. My blush grew a shade darker.

"Sorry," I mumbled. He stood and offered a helping hand, which I hesitantly accepted. I glanced over at Lucy, and I had to grin.

_I can't bloody believe it. We're in the forest she was talking about. My God, it's real after all_, I thought with no small amount of shock and awe, mixed with some guilt. I certainly hadn't believed her.

Susan was having a similar revelation, but Edmund just looked uncomfortable. I dismissed it for a second to consider Lucy's reaction. She was grinning from ear to ear, and was probably anticipating Peter's grovelling at her feet and pleading forgiveness. That's what I would ask for.

"I don't suppose an apology would cover it?" he asked ruefully.

"No, it wouldn't," she started with a knowing expression.

_What is she up t—_

"But this might!" She threw a wad of snow that hit Peter straight in the face.

"Owch, that ought to hurt!" Despite myself, I found myself laughing as I threw my own snowball at his surprised face. Peter laughed as well, and I tried to hide behind Susan as he threw a well aimed snowball at my stomach. Fortunately for me, it hit Susan instead, inspiring her to chuck one at Peter for hitting her. This escalated and continued until someone managed to hit Edmund in the leg, which made him call out in pain. We all stopped and looked at him with similar expressions: anger and annoyance.

"You little liar!" Peter accused.

"You didn't believe her either!" Edmund replied. I narrowed my eyes at him while Susan gave him an icy glared.

"Apologize to Lucy," Peter commanded.

Edmund hesitated.

"_Say you're sorry,_" Peter insisted angrily.

"All _right_, I'm _sorry!_" he shouted. I just shook my head at the insincerity of his "apology."

"That's all right." Oh, Lucy, always the peace keeper. "Some little children don't know when to stop pretending."

Peter and I didn't bother to hide our smirks.

_Justice is served._

"Haha, very funny," Edmund muttered.

"Maybe we should go back," Susan suggested as she peered back at the way we came in.

"Can't we just look around?" Edmund asked.

"I think Lucy should decide," Peter declared. I agreed with him there, Lucy deserved that much. Her face lit up at Peter's suggestion.

"I'd like you all to meet Mr. Tumnus!" she said after a slight pause.

"Then, Mr. Tumnus it is," said Peter with a laugh. He went back inside the wardrobe and brought a coat for each of us to wear. He offered Edmund his, but he was reluctant to take it.

"That's a girl's coat," stated Edmund.

"I know," I snickered a little as Peter smirked. Edmund reluctantly took the coat with a scowl.

* * *

We all trudged through the snow following Lucy's lead until we saw that the door to Mr. Tumnus's house had been left ajar, and was swinging on it hinges with the wind. Lucy immediately took off for the house, leaving us behind.

"Lucy!" Peter called out.

We all ran into the faun's home to see everything inside torn to pieces; shattered glass littered the floor, tables were turned over, and almost everything that hung on the wall had fallen to the floor. Lucy gingerly stepped over anything broken as she tried to get to the note attached to the wall. Peter stopped her before she could get too far, he himself getting the note for her. Once he got a hold of it, he began reading aloud.

"_Faun Tumnus is hereby charged with high treason against her Imperial Majesty, Jadis, Queen of Narnia, for comforting her enemies and fraternizing with humans. Signed Maugrim, captain of the Secret Police. Long Live the Queen._" My eyes widened at the implications, and I glanced at Lucy from the corner of my eye. She looked as if she was about to cry.

"All right, now we really should go back!" said Susan.

"But what about Mr. Tumnus?" Lucy protested.

"If he was arrested just for being with a human, there's not much we can do," Susan argued.

"You don't understand do you? _I'm_ the human. She must have found out he helped me," Lucy explained.

"Maybe we can call the police," Peter suggested.

"These _are_ the police," Susan reasoned, sounding quite exasperated by now.

"Don't worry, we'll just have to think of something," Peter tried to assure Lucy, who was looking at the note with fear for her new friend shown clearly in her eyes.

"Why? He's a criminal," Edmund pointed out. I was loathe to admit it, but he had something of a point. A strange sound echoed through the trees outside of the house, and we all turned to see what it was.

"_Psst._" My eyes widened as the only thing that could be seen was a black bird, sitting on the branch of a tree.

"_Psst._" The sound again. But only the bird was there. I looked over to Susan and Peter, who both had looks of disbelief.

"Did that bird just 'psst' us?" Susan asked incredulously. No one had an answer for her, as we were just as dumbfounded as she was. We paused for a moment, debating whether to follow the bird or not (wouldn't that be ridiculous), when it made the noise yet again. Now it was no coincidence. And so, all of us filed out of the house to follow the bird that had flown to the tree next to it, away from the house. It led us to a bush where it stopped and chirped at us again. We became confused, until a rustling noise could be heard. I became alert with the sound, butterflies fluttering in my stomach. We formed a tight circle with Peter in front of us, as if he was trying to protect us from whatever would leap out at us.

When the rustling became a bit louder, he spread his arms in front of Susan and me. All of us grabbed on to one another's coats, steeling ourselves for whatever would attack us.

Then…a beaver came out from behind a little snow hill.

_What is a beaver doing in the middle of winter?_ I thought, and I lightened my grip on Peter's coat when I could feel my nails piercing the other side. _He's lucky that wasn't his skin._

As the beaver approached us, Peter held out his hand, and started making clicking noises to try and get it to come closer.

"Well, I ain't gonna smell it, if that's what you want," _he _said. My eyes widened in shock as the beaver, whose voice was definitely male, spoke.

"Sorry," Peter apologized uncertainly. Lucy wasn't fazed, and wore a broad smile on her face.

"Lucy Pevensie," the beaver said, addressing her solemnly. The smile was wiped right off her face, as he pulled out a white cloth with her initials on it.

"That's the hanky I gave to..."

"Tumnus," he finished for her. "I got it from him just before they took him."

"Is he all right? His house is destroyed," I questioned. He appeared as if he was about to answer, but thought better of it when he began to look around.

"Further in," he whispered and padded away. When Lucy, Peter, and I were about to follow, Susan grabbed us by our coats before we could get any farther.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"How do we know we can trust him?" Edmund asked, for once agreeing with Susan.

"He said he knows the faun," Peter defended, rather lamely.

"He's a beaver, he shouldn't be _saying_ anything!" Susan exclaimed.

"She has a point," I said wryly.

"Is everything all right?" the beaver asked as he came closer to our group.

"Everything's fine, we're just...talking," Peter replied with an exasperated sigh.

"That's better left for safer places," the beaver whispered. I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion and looked to Peter in attempt to gage his reaction to the animal's strange reply. Peter appeared to have no idea what the beaver meant by that either.

"He means the trees," Lucy explained to us. I didn't know about the rest of our group, but that clarification didn't really help me. I mentally shrugged, and began to follow the beaver.

_I just hope we know what we're getting into_.

**And ****that's chapter two. This ends the slow beginning. Now we get on to more of the action.**

**Edited 12/10/12**


	3. Diminishing Winter

**I just want to thank my beta, Witchy Pixie, for being so good to me with this chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Chronicles of Narnia or any of its characters, just Alexa. She's my OC.**

* * *

_~Rising Above~_

Chapter Three – Diminishing Winter

We all trudged through the snow, following the beaver, who had introduced himself as Mr. Beaver. He had also said that he had a wife, whom we could call Mrs. Beaver.

_Creatively enough_, I had thought with a grin. He led us at a surprisingly fast pace, and always in the thickest parts of the forest. We walked this way for over an hour, getting more tired and hungry with every step.

At one point I miss-stepped over a fallen tree branch and fell, my arms flailing, into the snow. My hair whipped across my face, effectively blocking my vision. I could hear Lucy giggle, and Susan trying in vain to shush her sister, herself chuckling quietly. I smiled and stood up, brushing the snow from my coat and hair.

Soon, the trees began to grow thinner, and the ground ran steeply downhill. Once we walked a little further, we came out to an open sky, the sun still shinning. Just below us I could see a little dam, a strain of smoke running from the top of it to the sky.

"Oh blimey, it looks like the ol' girl got the kettle on! Fancy a nice cup o' rosie lee?" Mr. Beaver asked excitedly as we approached his home.

"It's lovely," Lucy admired.

"Oh, it's only a trifle. Still got a lot to do, haven't finished it all yet," he replied humbly. I smiled as another beaver came out from inside the dam, not quite bumbling along, but with a definite beaver's swagger that only a _Mrs. _Beaver could accomplish.

"Beaver, is that you? I've been worried sick! If I find out you've been out with Badger again, I'll–" She paused mid rant in her sudden shock of noticing us all. "Oh…well those aren't badgers." I could only give a sheepish grin as she began to fuss over all of us.

"Oh, I never thought I'd live to see this day!" She then turned to Mr. Beaver with an annoyed glance. "Look at my fur. You couldn't give me ten minutes warning?"

"I would've given you a week if I thought it would've helped," Mr. Beaver teased, laughing with Peter, Susan, Lucy, and I. Edmund just shifted his eyes away from the group, continuing to look up to the far away mountains with some kind of longing in his eyes. I wondered what was making him so moody.

"Oh, come inside. Let's get you some food, and some more _civilized _company," Mrs. Beaver said, directing the last jibe to her husband, who only laughed. The mention of food reawakened our empty stomachs, as well as our appetite, and we eagerly filed inside the house.

* * *

We were sitting down to a meal of the _real _"fish and chips," which was made up of some sardines and potatoes. I glanced at the sardines with fairly well concealed apprehension, and shared a knowing look with Susan, who was staring at her plate with much the same expression. However, I swallowed my pride before either one of the beaver couple could notice, and started to eat with everyone else.

"Isn't there anything we can do to help Mr. Tumnus?" Lucy asked the beavers who both wore expressions of sadness on their faces.

"They've taken him to the Witch's house. You know what they say, there's few who go in through those gates and come back out again."

_That is a tad spooky_, I thought.

"Fish and chips!" Mrs. Beaver interrupted, giving her husband a menacing look before turning to give a plate of food to Lucy.

"But there's hope dear, lots of hope," she tried encouragingly.

"Oh yeah, there's a lot more than hope!" He then leaned in close. Not being able to help myself, I leaned in a fraction as well in anticipation.

"Aslan is on the move," Beaver said cryptically. I was confused by the sudden leap my heart gave at the sound of the name which was spoken. Something in my stomach fluttered; an eccentric feeling that was there for only a moment before dissipating again. And with a quick glance to the rest of the table, I could see that everyone else seemed to be slightly entranced with the beaver's words as I had been, if a little confused. Well, everyone except Edmund, who was brooding somewhere behind us next to the entrance.

At the sound of the name, however, he finally came back from his corner, looking confused and slightly intrigued.

"Who's Aslan?" he asked. But Mr. Beaver just burst out laughing, while his wife looked puzzled by the question.

"'Who's Aslan?' You cheeky little blighter…what?" he echoed still laughing. However, Mrs. Beaver saw our confusion and nudged him in the side, effectively returning his attention to us. Shock registered on his face before he spoke.

"You don't know, do you?" he asked with deadpan expression.

"Well, we haven't exactly been here very long," Peter retorted testily.

"He's only the King of the whole Wood, the top Geezer, the real King of Narnia," Beaver listed. None of us were fazed by the titles, as we all were still clearly baffled.

"Is that what this place is? Narnia?" asked Peter. Mr. Beaver, if possible, looked even more deadpanned.

"Yes, Lucy knows, but from the lamppost you passed first coming in, all the way up the coast into the north, is Narnia...Aslan has been away for a long while," Mrs. Beaver added, trying to help in the explanation.

"But He's just gotten back! And He's waiting for you at the stone table," Mr. Beaver exclaimed.

"He's waiting for us?" I asked puzzled. This was just not making any sense.

"You're bloomin' joking!" Beaver very nearly shouted in exasperation, but Mrs. Beaver motioned for him to calm down.

"They don't even know about the prophecy," he told her, his voice still raised.

"Well, then…" She motioned for him to explain to us.

_It's about time_, I thought in exasperation. _What the bloody hell is going on here?_

"_Look._ Aslan's return, Tumnus's arrest, the Secret Police, it's all happening because of _you_," he told us.

'_What did we do?_' I thought in annoyance.

"You're blaming us?" Susan asked incredulously.

"No, not blaming, thanking you," Mrs. Beaver explained. Beaver just nodded his head and continued.

"There's a prophecy. _'When Adam's flesh and Adam's bone sits on Cair Paravel in throne, the evil time will be over and done,'_" he quoted.

"You know, that doesn't really rhyme," Susan said smartly. I mentally sighed. I liked Susan, but she paid entirely too much attention toward being "logical."

"You're kind of missing the point," Beaver replied in exasperation. Mrs. Beaver put a paw on his shoulder, and took over.

"It has long been foretold that two Sons of Adam and three Daughters of Eve will defeat the White Witch, and restore peace to Narnia," she said pointing to each of us, smiling. My eyes grew round as saucers as I took in the information.

"What on Earth?" I couldn't help but let the words escape.

"And you think we're the ones?" Peter clarified, somewhat cutting me off. It was just as well, the beavers had looked at me strangely once I had spoken.

"You better be, 'cause Aslan's already out there fitting out your army!" said Mr. Beaver.

"Our army!" Susan echoed in disbelief. I wanted to protest as well, but something was holding me back, a feeling I couldn't quite place. I didn't want to fight in a war. That was ludicrous enough to even think about…but I couldn't shake the feeling that there was something…more.

"Mum sent us away so we wouldn't get caught in a war," Susan said quietly to Peter, who was still desperately trying to make up his mind. After a moment of silence, he shook his head, exhaling loudly.

"I think you've made a mistake. We're not heroes," he told the beavers.

"We're from Finchley!" Susan added for good measure. Mr. and Mrs. Beaver looked to each other in dismayed confusion.

_I hadn't known they were from Finchley...but it's a big city. It's not a wonder I hadn't met them yet_, I thought.

"Thank you for your hospitality, but we've really got to go," said Susan. She continued getting up, cuing the rest of us to do so as well. I may have had the lingering strains of the prophecy's words swirling through my mind, but this was ridiculous. Like Susan had said before, our parents had sent us to the country to escape the war. I wasn't about to get thrown into another one.

"You can't just leave!" Beaver protested.

"He's right, we have to help Mr. Tumnus." Lucy said, standing next to the beavers. She was pleading with Peter now, willing him to help her, but he finally put his foot down with some authority.

"It's out of our hands," Peter said firmly.

I turned around, but the corner next to the entrance of the dam was oddly vacant.

_Wasn't Edmund there a few minutes ago?_ I thought puzzled.

"Where's Edmund?" Lucy asked, echoing my thoughts. Everyone turned, staring at the slightly open door.

"Ed? Ed? Edmund!" Susan called, to no avail.

"I'm going to kill him," Peter said icily. I sighed. That boy had been a load of trouble these past couple of days, but this was by far the worst.

"You may not have to," Beaver replied solemnly, grabbing our attention.

"Has your brother ever been to Narnia before?"

* * *

We ran outside to see Edmund just slip into the White Witch's gates, about a mile in front of us.

"EDMUND!" Lucy yelled after him.

"Shhhhh! They'll here ya!" Beaver quieted Lucy.

Peter started to run after him, but Mr. Beaver held Peter back by latching his claws onto the boy's coat.

"Let go of me!" Peter demanded, fighting the beaver's grip.

"You're playing into her hands," Beaver whispered furiously.

"We can't just let him go!" Susan cried.

"He's our brother," Lucy pleaded.

"He's the bait! The Witch wants all five of ya!" he explained.

"Why?" I asked in exasperation. I wasn't too fond of Edmund, but I was worried about what would happen to him. Maybe not as upset as his brother and sisters, but they were family. I was not.

"To stop the prophecy from coming true, to _kill_ ya!" We were stunned into silence. Susan and Peter's eyes met, both evidently distraught, while Lucy was almost in tears.

"This is all _your_ fault," Susan accused Peter._  
_

_This doesn't bode well_, I thought.

"_My_ fault?" Peter asked incredulously.

"None of this would've happened if you would've just listened to me in the first place!" Susan shouted, her angry words displaying her frustration and concern for her brother.

"Oh, so you knew this would happen?" Peter replied sarcastically.

"I didn't know what would happen. That's why we should've left while we still could!"

The fighting worried me. Susan was scared, and it was easy to blame Peter. But that wasn't going to change anything. We had to save Edmund; there was no way around it. I knew I should say something, but I couldn't. What if they hated me for it? Besides, it just put me on the spot too much...and I was still trying to pluck up the courage to just _do_ something when Lucy spoke.

"_Stop it!_" she shouted out, temporarily silencing the other two.

"Lucy's right," said the Beaver.

_A child half my age can do what I can't_, I thought dryly.

"Only Aslan can save your brother now," Beaver said grimly. Peter looked to him, his mouth set in a frown.

"So take us to Him," Peter challenged. We all looked back to the closed gates one last time, before sprinting back to the dam.

* * *

All five of us, including Mr. Beaver, ran into his home panting heavily.

"Hurry Mother, they're after us!" Beaver called to Mrs. Beaver, who looked flustered at our sudden entrance.

"Oh, right then." She then ran towards the kitchen, packing bread and other provisions and wrapping them in a large cloth.

"What's she doing?" Peter asked.

_What _is _she doing?_ I thought. We were in a bit of a hurry with the Witch's Secret Police guaranteed to be right behind us. This didn't faze Mrs. Beaver, however.

"You'll be thanking me later. It's a long journey, and Beaver gets awfully cranky when he's hungry," she explained.

"I'm cranky now!" Mr. Beaver exclaimed. I would have laughed, had I not heard the sounds of howling getting closer to our location.

_Wolves?_ I shifted my attention to helping Susan and Mrs. Beaver pack the rest of the provisions we would need for the journey.

"Do you think we'll need jam?" she asked him.

"Only if the Witch serves toast," Peter retorted dryly. I hid my smirk behind my hand, but we all stopped as we heard the howls almost right above us. I whipped my head around towards Lucy as I heard scratching and digging right behind her. Susan took Lucy's hand and pulled her towards Peter as Mrs. Beaver finished tying up the supplies.

"The roof," I whispered as dirt began to come down from the ceiling with the digging from above. Small holes were beginning to form through the wood, prodding claws now visible through the cracks. We ran, ducking our heads so that we could follow the beavers into a tunnel that led to the outside. Soon we hit a dead end, however, and Mrs. Beaver became slightly frantic.

"You should have brought a map!" she cried.

"There wasn't any room next to the jam!" Beaver returned as he dug a hole to lead us out. Peter waited for all of us to pass before helping us up the steep part of the tunnel. Finally when we made it outside, Mr. Beaver rolled a large log in front of the hole we had made to get out.

We then turned as Lucy cried out, seeing she had tumbled on some rocks. But when Lucy slowly got up off the ground, I could see what she had landed on weren't rocks at all. They were squirrels, chipmunks, birds, and other woodland creatures, all turned to stone. But we all watched Mr. Beaver as he slowly approached a badger that had been frozen with its paws blocking its face, probably to try and protect itself. Beaver put a paw on the badger's arm in disbelief and sorrow.

"I'm so sorry, dear." Mrs. Beaver tried to comfort her husband, but he just shook his head.

"He was my best mate," he said, voice cracking. We looked around to see the same thing had happened to many different animals, presumably living here in this little snow covered clearing.

"What happened here?" Peter demanded. I wanted to know as well.

_Who could've done something like this? _I thought.

"This is what happens to those who cross the Witch," a lone voice said suddenly. I turned around to see Beaver trying to attack a fox, who stood on a small snow that stood a few feet from us. Mrs. Beaver was doing her best to hold him back, but Mr. Beaver was grieved, and obviously angered by the death of his friend.

"You take one more step, _traitor, _and I'll chew you to splinters!" he warned tersely.

"Relax. I'm one of the good guys," the fox replied lazily. I didn't trust him. Weren't foxes known for being cunning and deceitful?

"Yeah, well you look a lot like one of the bad ones." At the beavers reply, Peter moved to stand protectively in front of Susan, Lucy, and me. Although, I still peered around his outstretched arm to see what was going on.

"An unfortunate family resemblance," the fox replied coolly. "We can argue breeding later, but right now we have to move," he said, motioning toward the tunnel where the wolves were now furiously digging to get past the log.

"What did you have in mind?" Peter asked him urgently. The fox just smirked. I decided I didn't like that smirk very much.

* * *

We watched from up in a tree as the wolves came out of the dam. I was leaning on Susan and Peter for support as I gripped the branch for dear life. I wasn't very coordinated. Knowing me and my terrible luck, I could fall out of the tree at any moment and blow our cover.

I looked below at the scene as the wolf pack circled the fox. They bared their teeth back in snarls, trying to intimidate the lesser animal into giving them the information they so desperately needed.

"Greeting, gents. Lost something, have we?" the fox asked mischievously.

"_Don't patronize me_," Maugrim grounded out threateningly. "Which way did the humans run?"

"Humans?" The fox began to chuckle a bit at the insinuation. "Here in Narnia? That's a bit of handy information don't you thin–" Peter had to cover Lucy's mouth from her gasping as one of the wolves sunk their teeth into the fox's back, earning a loud whimper from the animal held in the wolf's powerful jaws. My eyes went wide with shock, and were actually starting to hurt with the cold air whipping against my face.

"I'll only ask one more time. _Where are the humans?_" The fox hesitated for only a brief moment before answering.

"North. They ran north." He hung his head, as if in defeat, and acting perfectly in spite of his lie. I winced as the fox was thrown into the snow, while the wolves ran away in the direction the fox had given.

* * *

The camp fire sparked as Mr. Beaver fed another branch into fire, while the fox told us about Tumnus, and how the wilderness animals were turned to stone by the White Witch. He paused in his story, only to yelp in pain when Mrs. Beaver hit a sore spot with her prodding. She had been tending to his wounds while he warmed by the fire, but the fox had proved to be one not to sit still for very long.

"They were helping Tumnus when the Witch got here–_ow!_ Ugh..."

"Are you all right?" Lucy asked, a touch of concern in her voice.

"Yes, well, I'd like to say their bark is worse then their bite but–_owch!_" he exclaimed in pain.

"Stop squirming! You're worse than Beaver on Bath Day," Mrs. Beaver muttered.

"Worst day of the year," Mr. Beaver said with his paw to his heart in mock agony. He managed to make Lucy giggle a little, and the rest of us to smile.

"Thank you for your kindness, but that's all the cure I have time for," the fox said suddenly, getting up from the ground slowly.

"You're leaving?" Lucy asked in disappointment.

"It has been a pleasure, my queen, and an honor," He started with a bow. "But time is short and Aslan himself has asked me to gather more troops."

Mrs. Beaver gasped in awe, and both beavers leaned forward in excitement.

"You've seen Aslan?" Mr. Beaver asked the fox in amazement.

"What's he like?" Mrs. Beaver added. The fox chuckled a little.

"Like everything we've ever heard," he said cryptically.

_That doesn't give us much_, I thought. We had heard very little about Aslan, only that He is the rightful King of Narnia, and that He could help us.

"You'll be glad to have Him on your side in the battle against the Witch," the fox finished, directing the last part to Peter especially.

"But we're not planning on fighting any Witch," Susan said with a shake of her head.

"But surely King Peter, the prophecy…" the fox let the thought trail off, not quite sure how to finish his protest.

"We can't go to war without you," Mr. Beaver added in. I bowed my head before looking at Peter for his reaction. There was a moment of silence, all eyes on the eldest Pevensie, before he tossed a small branch into the fire.

"We just want our brother back," Peter replied with a sigh. These words seemed to discourage Mr. Beaver and the fox greatly. My gaze shifted to my hands that were folded in my lap.

* * *

We were walking in the snow again, following Mr. Beaver, when he stopped to pan out the forest ahead of us. My expression changed to one of awe and wonder as we looked out from where we stood, a huge cliff that overlooked a grand lake. Also in view were large, ice-capped mountains, the sun just peeking out from behind them. Their rays touched the waves of the lake, creating an exuberant shine that made for a breathtaking sight.

"Aslan is waiting for us at the Stone Table, which is just past the frozen river." Mr. Beaver explained pointing to a mountain in the distance.

"River?" I asked. _How are we going to get across a river?_

"Oh, the river has been frozen solid for a hundred years," Mrs. Beaver explained.

"It's so far," Peter said as he looked out to where Mr. Beaver had pointed.

"It's the world dear, did you expect it to be small?" Mrs. Beaver asked, turning to look at him.

"Small_er,_" Susan commented dryly.

* * *

Finally after walking for hours, we came to a clearing where snow covered as far as the eye could see. I had fallen a little behind Susan and the beavers, but kept in step with Peter and Lucy so that I wouldn't fall even more behind. I glanced at the blonde out of the corner of my eye, dully noting his downcast expression.

_He's probably thinking about his brother_, I thought, and glanced at him again. This time, however, his eyes met mine. I looked down fast, embarrassed at being caught.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing..."

"You don't say much, do you?" I raised a brow.

"Only when I don't need to."

"Well, why is that? Don't you talk to people?"

"Not particularly. They have to have something interesting to say. Most people aren't very good at it," I said.

"You won't have many friends if you always think like that," he replied as he adjusted his heavy coat. I rolled my eyes.

"You and my mother both, I swear," I started. "Girls at school are annoying. All they want to talk about are themselves, and their superficial hobbies...and boys, whose voices haven't even changed yet." Peter chuckled in amusement.

"Well, what about my sisters?"

"What about them?" I asked.

"Do they seem superficial to you?" I paused, considering the personalities of both girls.

"No, they don't seem to be. I like your sisters, believe it or not."

"All right, well that's a start. What about boys?" I scoffed.

"Boys at fifteen? Hardly worth the effort." He outright laughed at this.

"You know, I could take offense to that." Despite myself, I smiled minimally.

"But you wont."

"Why not?" he asked, genuinely curious.

"Because you seem to be one of those...gentlemanly types."

"Is there something wrong with that?"

"Not really, except in this day and age, men expect women to do everything for them," I admitted, gaining a bit of confidence to speak my views. I didn't think Peter was the sort, but it wouldn't be the 1940s if it wasn't true. Peter glanced over at me in question.

"What makes you think so?" he asked. "Women can be independent."

"But in this society, they're not supposed to be...I've seen it first hand."

"How so?"

"Well...through my mother." I paused and shifted my gaze to Peter, who waited for me to explain. Lucy also glanced my way to hear the explanation.

"When she was young, she wanted to be a singer. She played in clubs, and was a waitress part-time at some restaurant. She met my father one night while she was waiting on his table. Long story short, they fell and love and got married," I began. "After blowing off what could have been a big break for her, my mother's dream became less and less possible. She was needed at home to take care of the house, then me when I was born. She never did fulfill that dream." Not that it was all my father's fault, but he had never gone out of his way to support her in the career she wanted. About fourteen years later, he was recruited into the war. That had been a year ago.

"That's sad," said Lucy. I nodded, looking down slightly at the snow as I walked. For a moment, Peter simply remained pensive, before he spoke.

"Well, I can't speak on behalf of all men, but I assure you, I wouldn't expect a girl to compromise herself." I glanced at him, and at seeing sincerity in his eyes, I didn't exactly know how to respond. I was surprised I had told him the story in the first place.

"Well, that's very good of you then."

* * *

"Come on humans, while we're still young!" Beaver called out to us. I rolled my eyes for what seemed like the tenth time in the last half hour. I turned my head at the sound of a soft grunt to see Peter pick up the dragging Lucy onto his back.

"If he tells us to hurry up one more time, I'm going to turn him into a big, fluffy hat." I laughed a little as Lucy giggled.

"Come on! Hurry up!" Beaver yelled this time.

"He is getting a little bossy." Lucy commented.

"No! Behind you, it's her!" Mrs. Beaver cried. All of our eyes widened in shock before we started sprinting for the forest. Peter grabbed hold of Lucy's hand to keep her from falling in the snow as we ran, and I could hear the sound of pelting hooves on the snow covered ground getting closer and closer behind. As soon as we made it inside the cover of the trees, we were able to find a place to hide in a small cave. We all squished together in the cramped space, each trying to make room for the other with no avail. When we heard the crunch of footsteps, however, we became as quiet as we possibly could. After a few agonizingly long seconds of silence, when we could no longer hear the stomp of hooves or the crunch of snow, everyone let out the breath we had been holding and relaxed a fraction from our tense state.

"Maybe she's gone." Lucy whispered.

"I supposed I'll go look." Peter said trying to get up, but Mr. Beaver stopped him from moving.

"No, you're worth nothing to Narnia dead." Beaver whispered.

"Neither are you!" cried Mrs. Beaver, surprising Mr. Beaver. He moved out of the cave in Peter's stead, disappearing through the brush.

We waited for what seemed like an eternity under that damp, cramped hole, when suddenly Mr. Beaver poked his head in the cave. Susan and I jumped slightly, while Lucy squealed in surprise.

"Come here, come here! I hope you lot have been good, cause there's someone here to meet ya!" he said excitedly. I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion, but I heeded the beaver's words and stumbled out of the cave.

"Oh, wow," the words slipped out of my mouth before I could stop them. Father Christmas was standing in front of me with a sleigh and his reindeer. I stood there, mouth agape in awe, when I felt a nudge in my side. I jumped a little, as I was startled, and turned my head to see Susan smiling in feigned innocence.

The hardy man laughed as he witnessed our shocked expressions. Only Lucy was smiling and laughing at the sight, for she had been the only one to have still believed in "Santa Claus" for sure.

"Merry Christmas, Sir." Lucy greeted Father Christmas grinning from ear to ear.

"It is, Lucy, since you have arrived." He said in a deep, kind voice, that made me feel warmth from head to toe.

"Look, I've dealt with a lot since I got here, but this–" Susan started, but Peter cut her off from finishing her poorly made comment.

"We thought you were the Witch," he said apologetically.

"Oh yes, sorry about that. But in my defense, I've been driving one of these much longer than the Witch," the man said, laying a hand on his sleigh.

"I thought there was no Christmas in Narnia," I commented, as I was still a bit confused. That was what Lucy had told us, as Mr. Tumnus had explained to her.

"Not for a long time. But the hope you've brought, your Majesties, is finally starting to weaken the Witch's power." At this, the beavers smiled as Father Christmas brought out a huge bag and plopped it down in front of us.

"But I dare say you could do with these," he said, and began to open the bag. Lucy laughed and came running towards him.

"Presents!" she yelled. I laughed at her childlike excitement. I had to admit, I felt some myself. Father Christmas chuckled as well, and pulled out a glass bottle with red liquid, and a belt. He came in close to Lucy and held it out to her.

"The juice of a fire flower; one drop will cure any injury." He handed it to Lucy and her smile slowly dropped from her face.

_I guess that wasn't what she was expecting_. But he wasn't done. He proceeded to give her a small dagger with a red sheath.

"And, though I hope you never have to use it..." he said as she took the dagger from him delicately.

"Thank you, sir. I think I can be brave enough," Lucy promised hesitantly.

"I'm sure you could, though battles are ugly affairs," Father Christmas told her kindly, before looking in the bag again to pull out a thick, strong bow and quiver of red arrows, sharp as a blade, I was sure. He then turned to Susan, motioning for her to step forward.

"Trust in this bow and it won't easily miss," he said, handing the gifts to Susan, who appeared suddenly nervous.

"What happened to, 'battles are ugly affairs?'" Susan asked in a small voice. Father Christmas just laughed, and also pulled out an ivory horn with a deep crimson belt.

"Though you don't seem to have a problem making yourself heard..." He paused to hand the horn to her before continuing. "Blow on this, and wherever you are, help _will _come."

"Thank you," Susan whispered before backing off hesitantly.

He gestured for me to come forward, before he pulled out two swords that were a bit shorter and thinner than the regular swords I had seen in museums, but both had razor sharp edges that looked like they could slice through metal, despite their small size. He also pulled out a belt, so that I could wear them on either side of my waist.

"Apart, they are weaker than a normal sword. But together, they are deadly weapons in the hands of the right user. Stay focused on the task at hand, and they will aid you well," he said wisely.

I thanked him gratefully, transfixed by the gifts I had been given. I stepped back next to Susan so that I could further admire my swords, but still look on to see Peter's reaction to his gifts.

"Peter." His head perked up at his name being called.

"The time to use these will be near at hand," said Father Christmas, who held before him, a beautiful sword and a silver shield with the image of a roaring lion inscribed in red. I couldn't help but widen my eyes in wonder when Peter pulled out the magnificent sword, the sun's rays reflecting on the sleek metal.

"Thank you, sir," Peter replied after a moment, and finally placed the sword back into its sheath.

"Now these are tools, not _toys_. Bear them well," he encouraged. "Now, I must be off. Winter is almost over, and things do pile up when you've been gone a hundred years." We watched him climb into his sleigh, and he looked back at us once he was comfortable.

"Long live Aslan!" he declared, and grabbed the reins of the sleigh. "And Merry Christmas!"

We all echoed our "Goodbyes" and "Merry Christmases" as he drove away, and the light sound of the bells dissipated into the wind.

"Told you he was real," Lucy commented. Susan, who was now clutching her bow and arrows, didn't reply, but only raised her eyebrows at her sister.

"He said winter was almost over." We all turned to Peter as his words registered. "You know what that means." We all gave him blank expressions.

_No, we really don't_, I thought. He hesitated slightly, before continuing.

"No more ice."

_…Oh_.

**That's chapter three everybody! I hope you enjoyed it. I spent a lot of time writing and rewriting scenes, but I think it came out okay. Let me know what you thought! : )**

**Edited 12/10/12**


	4. Rushing Water

**Why is it that you spend a few hours writing one chapter that you think is pretty damn long, and then you upload it and go to edit it, but see that it only takes about five minutes to read through? *sighs* Oh well, I guess that's the life of a fanfiction writer.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Chronicles of Narnia or any of its characters, only Alexa. She's my OC.**

**My endless thanks to my beta, Witchy Pixie! **

* * *

_~Rising Above~_

Chapter Four – Rushing Water

I was almost _glowing _with joy at the gift Father Christmas had given me, but I was also filled with apprehension of the thought that I would actually have to use it. I didn't know how to use a sword, let alone _two_. I didn't even know how to fence. Even if I did–by some miracle of God–learn how to wield a sword properly, I wouldn't even be able to take two steps without accidentally impaling myself on another's blade…or another form of injury to myself. Another reason why I usually didn't partake in sports was because I lacked coordination.

These thoughts filled my mind as we climbed the last of the hill, only to stop short as it gave way to a steep precipice. When we looked down, I was able to see the frozen waterfall that led down to the river. With the diminishing of the Witch's power, the ice had quickly begun to melt; making large ice pieces that had held the river still, break off and float down with the current.

Susan suddenly stopped, looking very reluctant to make the climb down to the bank.

"We need to cross, _now._" Peter said with urgency as he grabbed Lucy's hand, about to help her down.

"Don't beavers make dams?" Lucy protested to the beavers, who were now shaking their heads.

"I'm not that fast, dear." Mr. Beaver replied quickly.

"Come on!" Peter urged us. I made to follow, but I stopped short, looking back to Susan who stayed firmly to where she stood.

"Wait! Maybe we should think about this for a minute," she suggested.

"We don't _have_ a minute Susan. Those wolves won't be far behind us!" I pleaded, exasperation and fear laced through my words.

"I'm just trying to be realistic," she replied defensively. She looked slightly put out by my comment, and I felt guilty for it, but we had to move or we would be in trouble.

"No, you're trying to be smart, as usual." Peter retorted dryly. Suddenly, the cry of howling wolves sounded, making the hairs on my neck stand on end. They were not that far off in distance. I hurried with the others to begin my descent down the cliff, taking care not to slip and fall off the rock.

By the time we made it to the river bank, I could hear the melting ice shifting under our weight with every step. Peter tried to move forward, but the ground almost broke underneath his feet and he jumped away from the ledge with a small gasp.

"Wait, maybe I should go first," Mr. Beaver amended. Peter gave the ground at our feet a wary glance before nodding.

"Maybe you should." The beaver nodded in reply before padding forward slowly, patting the ice a little bit at a time with his tail. Little cracks sometimes appeared on the ground as he moved, and I could hear it quaking, accompanied by the sounds of rushing water underneath.

"You've been sneaking second helpings, haven't you?" Mrs. Beaver suddenly questioned as another crack appeared by Mr. Beaver's feet.

"Well you never know when which meal is going to be your last, especially with your cooking," he murmured with a small smirk as he continued with his task. Lucy and Susan held Peter's hands as he led us on. However, I accidentally clutched onto Peter's coat when I almost slipped.

"Sorry," I apologized, righting myself. He just shook his head, slightly distracted from the water squirting up underneath our feet.

"It's all right, go ahead. We'll all support each other," he replied. I almost smiled, but I was startled with fear when I turned and saw the wolves climbing down the ledge in front of us. They barked and growled, bearing their large, canine teeth, but Mr. Beaver snarled in return unflinchingly at who appeared to be their leader, Maugrim. The name that had been written in the letter now had a furry face to connect it to. One of his subordinates came to his aid, however, and clasped its jaws almost into beaver's throat.

"No!" Mrs. Beaver cried as her husband was now at the mercy of the wolves.

"Oh no!" Lucy exclaimed while Peter drew out his sword and shakily aimed it at Maugrim. The wolf only chuckled, and advanced as if the weapon held against him couldn't harm him in the least.

"Put that down boy. Someone could get hurt," Maugrim warned icily. For every step the animal made, we took another step back, but there was only so much room behind us to move. The wolf pack had split behind us, as well as in front of us. The only direction we could go was to the icy cold water to our right.

"Don't worry about me, run him through!" Mr. Beaver yelled from his position under the wolf's powerful jaws. Peter glanced at the beaver before returning his attention to the animal still advancing on him.

"Leave now while you still can, and your brother goes with you," Maugrim was lying through his razor sharp teeth. I knew Peter knew this, but the seed of doubt had been planted.

"Stop, Peter, maybe we should listen to him!" Susan yelled to Peter.

"Smart girl," Maugrim chuckled darkly in agreement.

"Don't listen to him! Kill him! Kill him _now!_" Mr. Beaver shouted out.

"All my Queen wants is for you to take your family and go."

"Don't listen to him Peter, he's lying to you!" I warned.

_This wolf only wants to kill us!_ When Peter held his sword a bit stronger, a little more confidently, Susan turned to him again. Apparently she was trying to knock her own sense into Peter as well.

"Look, just because a man in a red coat hands you a sword, doesn't make you a hero!" she yelled. "Just _drop it!_"

Peter gave her a glance but continued pointing his sword at the wolf.

"Don't, Peter! Narnia needs ya!" Beaver shouted, straining against the hold he had above him. "Gut him while you still have a chance!"

"What will it be Son of Adam? I won't wait forever, and neither will the river," taunted the wolf. Suddenly, a deep crackling sound could be heard from above, and I looked up to see the frozen waterfall starting to crumble; piece by enormous piece.

"_Peter!_" Lucy screamed just as water began to burst from the cracks, creating a column of water stretching high above us. He hesitated for only a moment before turning back around. Resolution was read clearly on his face.

"Hold on to me!" he yelled as he lifted up his sword.

_You don't have to tell me twice. _

Susan and I grabbed on to Peter's coat on the right while Lucy clung to him on his left. He then stabbed his sword into the ice, and the tidal wave crashed upon us.

* * *

For what felt like an eternity, we were held under water by the pressure of the wave. I was beginning to feel lightheaded, and my lungs were on fire. I wanted so desperately to let go of the clothing in my hands, but I did my best to hold on tight. Just as black spots began to swim through my vision, we broke the water's surface. We all gasped for air as the river's current steadily moved us along, while the beavers guided our ice block to the shore. As we waded out of the shallow water, I shivered, trying my best to squeeze the water out of my coat. I now felt terribly cold, wet, and numb all at the same time. But I shrugged it off the best I could, and brought my coat closer to my freezing form as we walked onto the sandy shore.

The beavers had just climbed out of the water and were now shaking it out of their fur trying to dry themselves. I was startled as Susan's scared voice rang out through the clearing.

"Where's Lucy?" Peter's eyes went wide as he looked down to see only her coat was in his hand. Susan, Peter, and I right away rushed to the water's edge to look for her. Susan and I screamed her name loudly in a panic trying to discern a brown head from the icy blue waves. After minutes of scanning the now calm river, we finally heard a familiar, high pitched voice.

"Has anyone seen my coat?" I smiled wide, recognizing Lucy's voice as she came to us dripping wet.

"Don't worry, your brother has you well looked after," commented Mr. Beaver as Peter helped her into her coat that was as dripping wet as its owner.

"I don't think you'll be needing those coats anymore," said Mrs. Beaver. I look around to see that the snow had finally vanished, leaving spring in its wake. Flowers were now in bloom, and green grass had grown over white.

* * *

Finally after another couple hours of walking, we approached the many red and golden tents, the emblem of a lion stitched on all. I couldn't help but gape slightly at the different creatures that had come out of their tents to see the strangers that had arrived into their camp.

_This doesn't feel possible._

"Why are they all staring?" Susan whispered as we walked to the heart of the camp.

"Maybe they think _you _look weird," Lucy offered with a giggle. I smiled, until we approached an intimidating creature that had the torso of a man, but the body of a horse. I remembered the name of the creature in a book I had once read, a centaur, I believed. He looked at least double Peter's height, and the boy already had at least four inches on me. I felt helpless next to the massive being, but did my best to keep my composure. Peter drew his sword and raised it to him.

"We have come to see Aslan," Peter stated. My eyes followed as the centaur's gaze shifted to the large tent behind him. The flap opened to reveal a great lion, who padded out to meet us with an air of regality about him. But at the same time, a deep kindness and gentleness was shown through his wide, amber eyes. The entire crowd of Narnians bowed at his presence, and at the incessant gesturing of the beavers, the four of us did as well.

_This must be Aslan, _I thought. _Why else would they revere him so?_ My body almost tingled with excitement, and a feeling that curled around my insides like warm honey. Goose flesh even spread on my arms as the lion spoke, his words a deep, rumbling purr.

"Welcome Peter, Son of Adam. Welcome Alexa, Susan, and Lucy, Daughters of Eve. And welcome to you too, Beavers. To you, I also give my thanks, but where is the fifth?" He asked us. I frowned sadly, my gaze returning to my feet. We then stood along with Peter as he rose from his position on the ground.

"That's why we're here, Sir. We need your help," Peter started as he sheathed his sword.

"We had a little trouble along the way," Susan added, trying to help Peter. Saying this couldn't have been easy for him. I could tell that he felt responsible.

"Our brother's been captured by the White Witch," Peter tried to explain, but I knew as well as he did that what he said wasn't the whole truth.

"Captured? How could this have happened?" Aslan asked dismayed.

"He…betrayed them your Majesty." Mr. Beaver explained.

I grew nervous, however, when murmuring and whispering swept through the crowd of Narnians behind us.

"Then he has betrayed us all!" said the centaur. This comment further aroused the tense atmosphere as the voices of the Narnians grew louder with outrage and doubt of their "prophesied king."

"Peace, Orieus. I'm sure there's an explanation," Aslan commanded before turning back to us, as if giving us a chance to explain.

"It was my fault really. I was too hard on him," Peter replied. The guilt could be read clearly in his voice.

"We all were," Susan added, placing a hand on Peter's shoulder in comfort. God knew he needed it right now.

"Sir, he's our brother," Lucy pleaded in earnest.

"I know, Dear One. This just makes the betrayal all the worse…this may be harder than you think." At this, my eyes grew downcast. I just hoped he could help us at all.

* * *

Susan, Lucy, and I were led to a large, red tent by a kindly dryad–Anya, I believe was her name. She was short and petite, her pale skin giving her an almost appearance of a human. However, the slightly narrowed ears, the grace and poise with which she carried herself, and the slant of her ashen colored eyes gave away her true heritage. Also, Anya seemed to practically glide across the soft grass with each footstep, her feet barely touching the ground as the newly come season of spring gave her a certain glow, and an ethereal quality.

"Here we are, your Majesties," she said as we approached our tent. I felt a prick of unease welling at the bottom of my stomach.

_I'm no majesty. Even if Mr. Beaver supposedly thinks we're meant to be royalty, I have no queenly qualities with whatsoever._

I noticed that there were embroideries of a roaring lion along the border of the tent, well defined in a gold thread. Anya held its flap open as we filed in, and we were able to finally see where would be sleeping for the next few days or so…well…at least I imagined it would be only a few days.

"Your clothes are in those three trunks," Anya began. "Queen Susan, yours is the one on the right. Queen Alexa, yours is to the left. And Queen Lucy, your trunk is by the middle bed." To Anya's urging, each of us went to our chests and opened them, and we marveled at the many precious fabrics and belts and shoes that were held inside. Holding up a dress—a dark plum in color—to my figure, I wondered if it would indeed fit me.

"Are there different sizes to the dresses?" I asked, but once I turned around, I found that the dryad had left our tent.

"Where did she go?" I asked. Both sisters simply shrugged.

* * *

We were standing down by the creek, admiring each other's clothing.

"Wow, Mum hasn't worn dresses like these since before the war," Susan said, a rueful expression on her face.

"We should bring her one back, a whole trunk full!" Lucy exclaimed in excitement. I smiled at her enthusiasm, and nodded. At this, however, Susan's smile faded slightly.

"If we ever get back," Susan replied, casting a slightly wistful glance towards the camp. I frowned, and my glance shifted to my feet.

_Susan, you're a little bit of a downer. _She looked to see both Lucy's and my originally upbeat mood suddenly turned sour by her comment.

"I'm sorry I'm like that," she amended before turning to Lucy. "We used to have fun, didn't we?" she asked. Lucy's frown slowly turned upward into a mischievous smirk.

"Yeah, before you got boring!" Lucy and I laughed at the incredulous look that spread upon her sister's face.

"Oh, Susan, are you going to stand for that?" I teased. My grin quickly began to fade, however, when I saw Susan reaching down into the water of the stream with one hand.

"Why, of course not," she declared before throwing a handful of water in our faces. I jumped at the cold as Lucy voiced both of our protests and shock. She then ran behind me so that I was the only one in range of Susan's next attack. Susan laughed out loud when the second _slap_ of the water hit me in the stomach.

It only went downhill from there.

A full blown water war ensued for about ten minutes before we got out of the stream all laughing, each of us soaking wet. Susan reached for the towel hanging off the branch of a nearby tree and removed it.

We came face to face with a snarling wolf, the Captain of the Secret Police.

**Dun, dun, dun! Okay not really, I'm sure all of you know what happens next. Let me know how you guys liked chapter four. Let me know what you guys thought of it. ^_^  
**

**Edited 12/10/12**


	5. Conversation

**Aaaaand onto chapter five: some action, some not so action. ;) **

**Thanks so much to Witchy Pixie for the beta! Love ya!**

* * *

_~Rising Above~_

Chapter Five: Conversations

_Previously on Rising Above…_

_Susan reached for the towel hanging off the branch of a nearby tree and removed it. _

_We came face to face with a snarling wolf, the Captain of the Secret Police._

Maugrim growled, revealing sharp, canine teeth. We screamed in fear and surprise, all of us taking a huge leap backwards. Susan threw the long towel at the two wolves, temporarily distracting them as we ran to the trees. Susan even managed to grab her horn as we made our mad dash for the forest.

_Great, quick-thinking. Maybe someone will save us, _I thought. "Blow it!" I said, panting a bit. Susan nodded and blew hard on the ivory horn, the resounding sound echoing throughout the camp.

I quickly helped Lucy up the nearest tree, vaulting her upwards to grab the lowest branch. When she was safely above the second branch, I turned to Susan.

"Come on, put your foot on my leg." I bent my knee so that Susan could use my leg as a sort of foot stool to reach the low branch. But Susan was hesitant, both fear and worry in her eyes.

"What about you?"

"You'll help me up when I get you to the second branch. Hurry, we don't have time to argue!" Finally, she nodded and climbed up. It was a bit harder to help lift her up to the limb, but that was understandable, considering Lucy was much smaller than her older sister.

"All right, you're next," Susan said, offering her arms. Just as I grabbed her hands, Lucy cried out.

"Look, the wolves!" I turned sharply to see that the two wolves were coming around the corner headed straight for us, sprinting across the forest floor. I tried my best to–using Susan's arms for support–propel myself upward to the protruding limb. When I had two hands on the branch, I threw my feet over the second branch, the back of my knees firmly held around it. Just as I was about to pull myself up, the sudden loud barking of the wolves startled me, and my hands slipped. I lost my grip on the wood, making myself swing backwards. I screamed as I swayed upside-down, Maugrim and his aid jumping and snapping only a few inches away from my face. Susan had also lost her grip, and has hanging by one arm from the higher branch. Lucy, securely higher up, shrieked. I could feel the air move with every swipe, and I could smell the wolves' breath with every snap of teeth. The only thing saving me from a less than delightful death was that my knees had a good grip on the tree branch.

"_Stop!_" shouted a familiar voice. I turned my head sharply to see Peter, holding the two wolves at sword point. Albeit it was a shaky sword point, but was a defense nonetheless. Abandoning their earlier hunt, the animals turned their attention to Peter, circling him and calling out taunts as they watched for an opening to strike. No longer being so distracted, I was finally able to pull myself up. Susan, who had gotten her footing held out a hand and I gratefully took it. I let out a shaky breath as I watched Peter point his sword back and forth between the wolves, trying to gage their movements.

Just when one of the beasts was going to leap forward and attack, it was pinned down effortlessly by Aslan.

"No, this is Peter's fight," said the Great Lion firmly when Orieus and his men were about to corner Maugrim. Reluctantly, Orieus stayed his blade and backed away.

"Come on, this isn't your war," continued Maugrim, trying to taunt Peter into lowering his sword the slightest bit.

"You know you don't belong here. You're just going to die—like a _dog_." Maugrim snarled and lunged at Peter, paws and long, sharp claws extended. Peter fell on his back, the massive animal still on top of him, impaled by Peter's sword. Quickly, Susan, Lucy, and I climbed down from the tree and ran to Peter's side. Neither he nor the wolf was moving an inch.

We pushed the dead animal off of him, to reveal a disheveled Peter. He was a bit worse for wear, but he was all right. I felt an overwhelming feeling of relief as Susan and Lucy cried out in joy, hugging their brother. I smiled broadly, touching his shoulder with my hand. As he held his sisters, he gave me a smile in return.

Aslan let go of the wolf still trapped under his paw, watching it whimper and run away into the forest.

"After him, he will lead you to Edmund," He directed to Orieus, who immediately took chase. Then Aslan turned his attention to us still sitting on the ground.

"Peter," said Aslan. Peter looked up, releasing his sisters.

"Clean your sword."

"Rise, Sir Peter Wolfsbane…" Aslan announced, allowing Peter to rise from his kneel. "Knight, of Narnia." We all watched with similar smiles as Peter looked down at his sword, as if weighing the new title in his mind. Finally, he looked up with a look that of pride in his expression. He now held the sword with a sense of dignity. Aslan watched Peter with a cat's smile, and knowing eyes.

* * *

I woke up early the next morning, and rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I got dressed and headed outside. I passed through the tent flap to see Peter standing outside looking up at a hill. I stood next to him and followed his gaze to see Aslan talking to someone…a boy whose dark hair looked very familiar…

"Edmund…" Orieus had found him! I looked to Peter to see that his face was void of expression. I frowned, but jumped when Lucy's voice shouted out from behind me.

"_Edmund!_" Peter stopped her from running forward when both Aslan and Edmund looked back to us. Slowly, he made his way down the hill, Aslan right behind him. I hadn't noticed at first, but on further inspection I could see he looked tired, sickly pale, bruised, and very uncertain at seeing me and his siblings.

"What's done is done. There is no need to speak to Edmund of what has passed." Aslan announced before taking his leave.

"Hello," he murmured nervously, not meeting any of our gazes. Finally, it was Lucy who shattered the awkward silence. She ran to him and hugged him tightly around his waist. Edmund looked surprised at first, but slowly smiled and put his arms around his little sister. Susan and I approached next with smiles on each of our faces. Lucy pulled away to let Susan hug her younger brother just as tightly as she had. Then I came forward with a smile and put a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"Glad you're back," I said quietly. He hesitated before returning my smile. I backed off slightly, removing my hand as Susan took in his disheveled state.

"Are you all right?" Susan asked him putting a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm a little tired," he replied wearily.

_That's an understatement, _I thought.

"Get some sleep." I frowned at the monotone in Peter's voice as he nodded toward the tents. Susan looked at his in a slightly suspicious speculative gaze and Lucy just looked at him puzzled as to his behavior. Edmund's eyes grew downcast at this, and he started to walk away toward the tents.

"And Edmund," Peter amended, effectively stopping his brother. Edmund looked back to him in silent question.

"Try not to wander off," Peter said with a small smirk. After a second, Edmund returned it with a grin of his own before heading off to the tents once more. I looked to Peter to see him beginning to walk away after his brother had left, the frown returned to his face. I debated following him with the hopes of seeing why he was suddenly upset, but I wasn't sure that I should.

_What can _I_ do? I've only just met him, would he want to talk to me at all? _But, then again, it didn't feel like we had just met. This whole experience in Narnia—it felt almost unreal that we had only been here a few days. The Pevensies were good people, and were becoming my friends. I didn't want to feel sorry for myself for being too shy, even to get to know them; or too afraid to try anything that was unfamiliar to me.

I didn't know if I could help but…for once, I wanted to try.

He was walking fast and I had to jog a bit to catch up, holding the skirt of my dress a little above the ground.

"Peter!" I called trying to get him to slow down. It was hard doing this in a dress, and I didn't have as long legs as he did. However, he didn't slow down his quick pace. If anything, he sped up.

"Wait, I just want to talk," I said. Finally he relented, and allowed me to catch up with him.

"Yes?" he asked stiffly. He stopped at a rolling hill, and it was high enough that we could see numerous tents, as well as the training field down below.

"Well, I just wanted to ask if you were all right," I replied. Peter shrugged nonchalantly.

"I'm fine," he said.

"No, I don't think you are."

"Look, there's nothing to worry about, I really am fine." I didn't believe that for a second.

"Peter, I know we haven't known each other very long, but at least be honest with me. If we want to be friends we can't lie to each other." His eyes widened fractionally before he smiled, a true smile.

"It's just…many things." He started, trailing off.

"Well, start with one, and we'll get to the rest." I said, sitting down on the hill. He hesitated only for a moment before taking a seat beside me on the soft grass.

"Is it…the prophecy?" I asked.

"Yes, that's part of it…a few days ago, I was sitting in a dusty old mansion, reading words out of dictionaries for fun. A couple days before that, I was huddled in a bomb shelter in Finchley. Now I'm supposedly destined to rule a country I know nothing of, and defend its freedom. It…it's a lot to handle."

"They say the five of us will be ruling as kings and queens, but I'm having a hard enough time wondering how I'm going to learn swordplay in a week," I said with a wry smile. Peter chuckled a bit in agreement.

"You want to know what else? I don't think I have what it takes. I don't have grace or poise, and I'm not elegant like the story books say a royal is supposed to be. I'm clumsy, soft-spoken, and I've never been terribly bold. Somehow, I think Aslan had the wrong pick when He, for some inexplicable reason, chose me," I said, my voice lowering with each sentence to let the last trail off at a whisper. Peter surprised me when, after a moment of silence, he spoke.

"You may not be elegant, or outspoken. You may not be very graceful—this I know from experience," Peter started, making me laugh. "But you're kind, and considerate of others...I guess, things like poise and charisma you can learn, but things like compassion and patience…well, those things are characteristics of a person that are hard to learn to be—this I also know from what little experience I do have." I was momentarily stunned with his thoughtful words, but finally after I dislodged my tongue from the roof of my mouth, I smiled broadly.

"Are you always this intuitive?" I asked. He shrugged and gave a sigh.

"It's a gift, I suppose," he said with a wry grin. I laughed outright and looked at him with fake incredulity.

"Humbleness as well, I gather. Do you have any more pearls of wisdom for me?" I asked, my smile still in place.

"Hmm, not at the moment. Ask me in half an hour, I might have something for you," he said with a long grin. I laughed, and paused to pull a strand of hair behind my ear that was getting pushed with the slow-coming breeze.

"Thank you though, for what you said. I think you helped me more than I did you," I said gratefully.

"You helped me just by letting me know that you have doubts, just like I do. Thank you," Peter replied, making me smile. I looked up, and our eyes met for a brief few seconds. Distantly I could hear Susan calling Peter's name, as well as my own, shattering the reverie. I blinked and looked down. I could feel the blush staining my cheeks as I rose from the ground along with Peter.

"We should probably get down there for breakfast—well now brunch I guess," Peter said, signaling to Susan with his hand.

"Yes, that's probably best," I replied with a nod. I followed Peter down the hill, all the while thinking of our previous conversation.

_Maybe we can do this._

**And that's chapter five. Please let me know what you all thought of it****. I love you all, please read and review!**


	6. Preparing for War

**I'm so sorry it took my so long to update this chapter. I just lost a little confidence with this story, is all. But I've got it back, and I thank Witchy Pixie for her support and awesome beta skills. ^_^**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything or anyone except for Alexa, my OC.**

* * *

_~Rising Above~_

Chapter 6 – Preparing for War

Later at lunch we feasted on toast, cheese, meat, and an assortment of fruits prepared for us in front of our tents. There was much food to be had, and we all ate as much as we cared for, but Edmund was seemingly stuffing his face with three pieces of toast per minute.

_'Understandable,'_ I thought after a moment. _'I don't think the White Witch would feed her…prisoners.'_ I looked at the younger boy, and couldn't help notice that he seemed different, again understandably so. But there was something in his eyes, something I had never seen before—guilt, that was sure, but something more as well. It was like he was stepping on eggshells around us. I had noticed for the half hour or so since he returned to us, he had never completely met our eyes.

"Slow down Ed, I'm sure Narnia won't run out of toast," Lucy said, barely holding back a giggle. He swallowed the bit he had in his mouth, and gave a small smile before resuming eating at a slower pace. I had never seen him smile before, but it was nice to see a positive expression on his face rather than a scowl.

"I'm sure they'll pack enough for the journey back," Peter replied. From the similar expressions on Susan, Lucy, and Edmund's faces, I knew we were all confused and…disappointed.

"We're leaving?" Susan asked.

"You three are. I promised Mum I'd keep you safe. Although I can't force you, I hope you will go with them as well, Alexa." He said. I thought for a moment, and realized, this was my way home—back to civilization and things that made sense, back to the real world where I belonged. I don't fit in here. I might have been given a weapon, but I was no fighter…was this even real? The more I turned it over in my mind, the more I thought: what was I even here for?…But even considering all my misgivings about this place, when I thought about those amber eyes, filled with compassion for His people, for us; the Narnians' hopeful faces, their determination to fight for their lives, all this was real. As Edmund proved, this was not just a fantasy land.

"No, I don't think I will." I paused, trying to think of the right words. "Though I have my doubts, I want to stay and help, if I can," I replied softly, not entirely confident in speaking out.

"They need us, all five of us," Lucy said, undoubtedly determined.

"Lucy, it's too dangerous," Peter replied stubbornly. "You almost drowned, Edmund was almost _killed_."

"That's exactly why we need to stay," Edmund said quietly, though his words cut clearly through the argument.

"I've seen what the Witch can do, and I've helped her do it…we can't leave these people behind to suffer for it." I was taken aback by Edmund's response, but it gave me a new respect for him. Peter, especially, looked surprised by his younger brother. Peter's argument just thinned incredibly.

"Well I suppose that's it then," Susan said, getting up to grab her bow and quiver. She tossed me my dual swords and belt, in which I narrowly missed knocking over my drink on Edmund's lap. I gave Susan a withering glance, to which she simply grinned.

"Where are you going?" Peter asked her. Susan's grin spread wider as I finally understood what she was getting at with some trepidation.

"To get in some practice," Susan said with finality as she and Lucy walked away to the portion of the training fields for the arrow targets, as Orieus had previously instructed. I looked to Peter and Edmund with a sheepish grin.

_'This is going to be a disaster.'_

* * *

"Remember to point your sword," Orieus instructed from the sidelines as Peter and Edmund sparred in front of him. He had been training us for days, and I could honestly say I learned how to wield a sword, if only the basics. Still, I couldn't say it wasn't trying. Actually, this has probably been the hardest experience of my life, besides the journey getting here. By far, I wasn't a natural of any kind. From the beginning I wasn't the least bit athletic, like Peter or Edmund, who took to the task of sword wielding rather well. At some points I could tell that I was trying our instructor's patience.

"_You're only going to need one of them for now."_

"_Are you sure?" I asked, hesitantly holding the two of my swords in each hand._

"_Yes, put it on the ground. Now…wait, hold it on the hilt," Orieus corrected._

"_Um…" _

"_The leather at the butt of the sword." I could only _assume_ that meant the end of the sword._

"…_Oh."_

As I hypothesized, learning how to wield two swords was far more challenging that just one, like in the beginning of my training.

"_Stop thinking of your weapon as two individual swords. __Think of them as one sword. Every cut, every slice through air is a fluid motion. Now, cut to the left," Orieus directed. I did as he said, but I didn't have a proper grip with my left hand, which in turn let my sword go flying through the air, (nearly decapitating Peter who was a few yards away) and into the ground. I stared in shock at my handiwork, and blushed a few shades of red as Edmund started laughing hysterically at my expense. Orieus gave me an icy stare, and I sprinted away at full speed to collect my lost weapon. As the centaur had said on the first day of training, "lose your weapon, lose your life." _

Eventually though, I was able to learn the art of swordsmanship, thanks to two boys who became my sparring partners, and also my friends.

_Edmund laughed as he blocked a strike aimed for his head, pushing the sword harmlessly away._

"_You can do better than that," he taunted with a grin. Peter sat at the sidelines along with Orieus, an amused smirk playing at his lips._

"_I wouldn't tease her so much, Ed. You might get your arse handed to you," Peter said with a laugh. _

"_Susan would have something to say about your dirty mouth, not that I don't appreciate you patronizing me," I said with a playful scowl. I managed to force Edmund back with a succession of twists and turns of my swords, and Peter laughed as his younger brother began to lapse against me. Though, my success didn't last, as I began to grow weary. In a few moments, Edmund had disarmed me, and had me at sword point. I smiled as he grinned, and he sheathed his sword. Peter clapped as he walked closer to us, a smile on his face._

"_Good job, that was fun to watch," he said._

"_Yes, well done, both of you," Orieus said with a rare smile. '_He actually gave us a compliment_,' I thought wryly. '_In light of that sporadic comment_…' _

"_I feel disgusting, __yet satisfied," I said with a grin._

"_You should, you smell worse than Peter," Edmund said, to the indignant cries of both Peter and me._

"_At least I'm getting better at this. It took you longer this time. In a little while, I'll be beating you every day," I replied with a grin. Edmund laughed at the challenge, but welcomed it all the same._

"_Even if that ever happened, you would still never defeat _him_," Edmund dramatized, pointing over to his brother, who simply grinned. I rolled my eyes playfully._

"_Stranger things have happened," I said with a smirk. _

Fortunately, I made it out of the experience relatively unscathed, and I managed to learn to hold my own with both Peter and Edmund.

_Absorbing a blow meant to knock one of my swords out of my hand, I let his sword slide off mine, and backed up on the returned swipe to my stomach. __I blocked a thrust to hip with one hand while twisting the other in an effort to dislodge Peter's shield from his hand. The weapon flew from his grasp. But before I could serve another hit, I had to raise my arms above my head, crossing my swords to deflect his weapon that was aimed for my unprotected head._

"_You don't…let up…do you?" I asked between pants, my arms starting to shake with strain._

"_Why? Are you getting tired already?" Peter asked with a smirk. In a burst of adrenaline and frustration, I shoved his sword to the side and pushed forward. I gave attack after attack, draining both him and me. I almost had him disarmed, but he twisted to the side tapping the side of my foot with his sword. I tripped slightly, and he took the opportunity to knock away the weapon in my right hand. Angered, I swung my sword above me, aiming at his head. _

_He blocked, but I kicked a foot out to his stomach before he could deflect me. I then swerved to the left, repelling a hit, but his sword didn't bounce off. Instead, it slid up mine until it came to the hilt and twisted. If I hadn't dropped my sword, he would have taken my hand clean off. He grabbed my wrist, and hooked his leg behind my foot, taking me off my center of gravity. I yelped in surprise as I, losing my balance, began to fall backward. Peter lessened my tumble by letting go of my wrist and quickly grasping my upper arm, gently lowering me to the ground. I grabbed his arm for support with my free hand, gasping for precious air that I had lost. I blushed, but wasn't able to do more than lie here, as I was exhausted._

"_Are you alright?" he asked with a smirk, also panting as he stood up above me. With a grin, I swept my leg under his, making him fall beside me. He moaned in pain, and allowed his sword to clang to the ground next to him._

"_Fine. Are you?"_

* * *

"Sword pointed Ed! Like Orieus showed us!" I watched from the sidelines as Edmund and Peter rode across the field on their horses, sparring against each other. I looked over to see Lucy and Susan approaching, and met them half way.

"En Garde!" Peter blocked the attack from his brother and directed his horse around Edmund.

"Now block!" Peter said, aiming a hit to Edmund's shoulder.

"Hey, watch it!" Edmund called as Peter almost nicked his face, and retaliated in turn.

Susan, Lucy, and I looked over to the boys still fighting and smiled. Our smiles turned into laughter when Edmund's horse bucked, almost knocking him off.

"Whoa, Horsey!" Edmund shouted, trying to regain control. _'Wait, wasn't that the Narnian horse…' _I thought, a slow smile creeping across my face.

"My _name _is _Philip_," said the horse rather indignantly. Edmund looked too shocked to answer, but once dislodged his tongue from the roof of his mouth, he blushed crimson.

"Oh…sorry." I laughed even harder at the hilarity, at Edmund's expense. It was then that I realized…I was no longer just drifting along in this place. I had become a part of this journey with the Pevensies. Each one of them had given me something, something for which I would always be grateful. They had become my friends, people that I cared about. My laughter dissolved into a simple smile.

However, I was taken out of my reverie by a flustered Mr. Beaver, who came running up to us from the camp. He seemed rushed, and panicked.

"The White Witch has come for a meeting with Aslan. She's on her way here!" We all went pale and shared similar expressions, Edmund looked worst of all, as if he was going to be sick to his stomach. I was ushered onto Orieus as Lucy climbed onto Philip alongside Edmund, and Susan onto Peter's horse.

* * *

"ALL HAIL THE QUEEN OF NARNIA!" a black dwarf shouted out as he and Jadis's entourage approached. We watched from the sidelines as Narnians yelled out obscenities at the Witch, snarling and growling as she came closer. The false queen's servants carried her toward Aslan as she sat on her throne, and she had a cold and calculating look about her, even as she held her head high. Her black eyes were hard and unrelenting as she gave the five of us a cursory glance. I was frozen with that intense gaze, pinned to where I stood. I held my breath, not daring to let it out as she pinpointed Edmund. Her lips curled in a sneer before she addressed Aslan, regarding Him with contempt.

"You have a traitor in your midst, Aslan," she said silkily. Edmund looked down in shame, but Susan and Lucy both put comforting hands on his shoulders. Peter's hands clenched as I silently let out my breath, glad that I was out of her trajectory of sight. But guilt swiftly came as I glanced at Edmund. This couldn't be easy for him. In fact, upon further scrutiny, I saw that he was trembling.

"His offence was not against you," Aslan returned slowly.

"Have you forgotten the laws upon which Narnia was written—written on that very _Table of Stone_, and on the Secret Hill? The Deep Magic with which the Emperor created Narnia in the very beginning?" I almost jumped as Aslan cut her off sharply.

"Do not recite the Deep Magic to me _Witch_. I was there when it was written," Aslan growled. My eyes widened in surprise. This was the first time I had ever seen the Lion truly angry.

"Then you will remember well that every traitor belongs to me as my property, every treachery as my right to kill." My breath hitched as Susan wrapped her arms protectively around Edmund, who looked pale as a sheet.

"Oh, so because you were the Emperor's hangman, you thought you could be queen. I see now," said Mr. Beaver dryly.

"Peace, Beaver," Aslan commanded, though he gave a low growl at the Witch's words.

"Furthermore, his blood is _mine_," Jadis finished.

"Try and take him then," Peter challenged. Jadis just looked to him in disdain.

"Do you think mere force can deny me my right, little King? Aslan knows the Deep Magic far better than that. He knows that unless I have blood as the law demands, all of Narnia will be overturned and will perish in fire and water. That boy will _die_ on the Stone Table," she stated with a satisfied smirk at Edmund's petrified and guilty look, before returning her gaze to Aslan.

"You dare not refuse me," she finished. The Narnians stirred, and some roared in outrage as the Witch threatened one of their kings.

"_Enough._ Fall back, all of you. I shall talk to the Witch alone," Aslan declared, and turned his back on the Witch to venture into His tent. She hesitated, as if contemplating going in with Him alone, but followed just the same. We waited for what seemed like an eternity in trepidation. Fortunately, Edmund had stopped shaking after a few minutes, and began pulling at the grass in front of him while we sat on the ground.

_I can't even imagine what any of them are thinking of, him least of all, _I thought as I looked up to Peter, whose hands were white with the strain of clenching them in a fist. _Ouch._ I gently rested the tips of my fingers on his hand, only mildly startling him from his reverie. After a moment, he looked up and regarded me silently. When I noticed his grip lessened considerably, I blushed scarlet.

"That must be painful," I said softly. Before he could reply, the Witch came out of the tent, a victorious look upon her face. My head snapped in her direction as my eyes widened in fear for Edmund, who had become my friend in the struggles and hard work we had faced while in Orieus's tutelage. I slipped my hand away from Peter's and subconsciously shifted closer to Edmund.

Aslan soon followed out of the tent, and paused before finally speaking.

"She has renounced her claim on your brother's blood." The words barely registered before great cheering erupted from the Narnians. We all celebrated; laughing, the five of us bringing Edmund into a nearly crushing embrace. Peter ruffled Edmund's hair with a laugh as his younger brother swatted the offending hand away.

"How will I know your promise will be kept?" the White Witch asked patronizingly. Aslan only gave a mighty roar, making the Witch fall into her seat in fear.

* * *

Personally, I like sleep—probably more than I rightly should as a lively young woman. But damn it, being woken up at an unholy hour in the middle of the night was unsettling, especially when it was by someone who decided that shaking me furiously was the best wake up call.

"Alexa, Alexa, wake up!" Lucy whispered loudly. Opening my eyes, I groaned when I noticed that it was still very much night.

"Lucy, whatever are you doing?" I tried to roll over, but gave up my protesting when Lucy insisted I get up. I sat up groggily and looked around the tent to see Susan awake as well, putting on her cloak.

"What happened?" I asked tiredly.

"Aslan is walking away from the camp, come on," Susan whispered. Though I was exhausted from the previous day's events, I gave up the idea of wonderfully pleasant sleep and got up to also put on my cloak. My curiosity was piqued. We ventured outside and saw Him just disappear into the woods. We tried our best to stay quiet as we followed, ducking in bushes and hiding behind trees as we followed the Great Lion further away from the camp.

Though, after a little while Aslan actually called out to us.

_I should've guessed, he probably knew we were there the whole time,_ I thought dryly.

"Shouldn't you three be in bed?" he asked wearily. We stopped, and came out of our hiding place behind a tree, each of us with guilty expressions.

"We couldn't sleep," Lucy told him.

_More like you couldn't. I was doing just fine, _I couldn't help but think wryly with a slight smile.

"Please, Aslan, couldn't we come with you?" Susan asked curiously.

"Well, I would be glad to have some company for a while. Thank you," He said quietly as we walked next to him, a fistful of fur gently grasped in each of our hands. We walked until we came to a small clearing, when Aslan came to a stop.

"I'm afraid it is time we part ways. From here I must go on alone," He said.

"But Aslan…" I pleaded. I couldn't help but want to stay with Him a while longer. His presence was calming, and He was ever kind. I had never met another being like Him in my life, and it was times like these, in quiet walks, that I felt at peace; where I truly belonged.

"This must be done," He said with finality. "Thank you Alexa, thank you Susan, and thank you Lucy, and farewell. Please go back to camp and rest." He said his goodbye and padded away, leaving us alone. We shared one look between each other, and I knew we were going to follow him.

We waited until He disappeared further into the woods before walking quickly to catch up, but further behind as to not be heard or seen. There in that forsaken forest, I saw horrific things that would stay with me forever, things I knew were wrong, straight to my very core.

**C****hapter six everyone, hope you enjoyed it! You guys know the drill. ^_^**


	7. The Moment of Battle

**I'm gonna say, I was a little saddened by how many people have stopped reading this story since the other two were deleted. But to those who are still reading, and have reviewed their comments, I thank you. :D I also want to thank my awesome beta, Witchy Pixie, for editing this chapter. **

**Disclai****mer: I don't anything or anyone except Alexa, my OC.**

* * *

_~Rising Above~_

Chapter 7 – The Moment of Battle

Susan, Lucy, and I all hid behind a bush and watched as fallen beasts yelled, squawked, and shouted vulgarities at Aslan as he walked calmly through the crowd. They parted ways for his path to the Stone Table, but spit at him all the way as he passed them. Such terrible creatures…wolves, ogres, minotaurs, hags, ghouls, incubuses, spectres, sprites, and many other followers of the White Witch were gathered around the Table, where Jadis herself stood.

"Behold, the Great Lion," she mocked. All of the beasts roared and laughed as Aslan approached. He did nothing as a Minotaur used his long axe to knock the Great Lion onto the ground. We cringed and gasped in shock as the monsters cheered in delight.

"Why doesn't he fight back?" Lucy asked in shock and fear.

"Bind Him!" At the Witch's command, many gathered around and bound Aslan's front and back paws, as well as His jaws. Just as they were about to bring Him up the steps to the Table, the Witch called out again.

"_Wait_."

I tensed in trepidation, grasping both Susan's and Lucy's hands in my own for comfort.

"_Let Him first be shaved_," Jadis shouted. Tears slipped down my face as they unsheathed their daggers, and began to raggedly cut the Great Lion's mane. I could see Aslan growl inaudibly when the blades would slice open His skin, or if fur was pulled a bit too far.

Once He was fully shaven, a Minotaur, an incubus, and a ghoul dragged Him up to the Stone Table, letting His head bump painfully against each step. Blood trailed behind where the Cat once laid. Two hags tied him down to the cold stone, right in front of the Witch. I held my breath in tightly.

It went completely silent as the Witch made a sharp signal with her hand. Then, after a moment, she slowly put it down, letting the noise build up once more. Soon, there was a full blown uproar of cheering, yowling, and squawking, encouraging death. She knelt down to Aslan, and I saw her lips move, though I couldn't make out what she was saying. I strained to hear, but to no avail. The Witch put a dainty had on Aslan's neck, where His glorious mane should've been, before standing up once more.

"Tonight, the Deep Magic will be appeased. Tomorrow, we will take Narnia…_forever!_" the Witch yelled. I couldn't breathe as her filthy dagger plunged into the Lion's side. My eyes went wide in shock as the life drained slowly out of Aslan's eyes. I watched as the great, amber eyes closed. I let go of Susan and Lucy to bury my face in my hands, trying in vain to stop the tears that formed.

After a moment, I looked up to my friends, seeing them in the same sorry state I was in. Susan touched my shoulder with her hand in comfort, and we gazed ahead.

The Witch knelt down again to see if He was still alive, but at feeling no heart beat, she looked up in triumph.

"The Great Cat…is _DEAD!_" All of the fell beasts cheered in victory as the three of us sobbed for our King. Though, a thought occurred to me. '_How could I feel such strong sadness for someone I knew for only such a short time?_'

* * *

When the Witch and her followers had finally left, we ran out of our hiding place and dropped to our knees next to Aslan. Lucy unscrewed the cap to her cordial and tried to give Him a drop, but I stopped her hand. I said nothing, not trusting my voice.

"It's too late," Susan said, her voice cracking. Lucy stopped, but began to untie the ropes that bound Him. Susan and I joined, though I looked up at the sound of a _snap_. I was shocked to see mice biting at the ropes.

"Get away! Get away all of you!" Susan shouted, trying to wave them off.

"No, wait…look," said Lucy, pointing to the bindings that were now snapping apart. The mice were helping to free him. After a moment, however, Susan looked at both of us.

"We have to tell the others," she said quietly. I couldn't have agreed more.

"Look, the trees," Lucy whispered. Leaves and flower pedals circled above our heads, drifting back to the camp with the wind. '_Dryads_,' I thought. I stood up, and wiped the dirt from the skirt of my dress.

"I'll go with them. Peter and Edmund might need help with the war, now that Aslan…won't be leading us," I said hesitantly, wiping my eyes. I hugged each of them, before taking off and running full speed back to camp.

* * *

As I had thought, the dryads reached Peter and Edmund before me, and were already awake in front of Aslan's tent.

"She was right, He's not here," Peter said, dismayed.

"So…what do we do now?" Edmund asked slowly. Peter sighed, and turned from the tent. His eyes widened in surprise as he saw me running towards them. I stopped, gasping for breath. It had been about a mile, and I had sprinted all the way without break. That may not have been much, but I wasn't much for endurance when it came to long distance running.

"_Alexa?_ Why are you so winded? Here, sit down," Peter said, leading me to a nearby seat next to the table covered in war tactics plans. Both Peter and Edmund waited patiently until my breaths were more relaxed and even.

"I…saw what happened. They killed Him…" I paused, holding my hand shakily over my mouth. Then the memories resurfaced—their cruelty replaying through my mind. I kept seeing Jadis stab the dagger through his heart, the beasts' shouts of victory as the life drained from His body. I scrunched my eyes shut and I choked back a sob.

Peter kneeled in front of me, putting his hands on my shoulders.

"We know what happened, the dryad told us. Are you alright? Are you hurt?" I shook my head negatively.

"No, I'm…fine. But…it was so awful. Those creatures…" I trailed off my words, clenching my fist over my mouth. Fresh tears spilled down my face, and my eyes were most likely already red and puffy. I was covered in dirt from hiding in the bush, and my dress was torn at the edge from getting caught on a tree limb during the run back to camp. I felt disgusting and drained, physically, and emotionally.

I was surprised when, hesitantly, Peter slid his arms around me in a comforting gesture. My body stilled, not exactly knowing how to respond. But eventually, I slowly leaned into him, letting my arms slip around him.

"Thank you," I said quietly. Edmund knelt behind Peter, giving a soft smile.

"You're welcome," Peter said uncertainly, clearing his throat. I shakily returned the smile, before reluctantly pulling away from the warm embrace.

"You'll have to lead us," Edmund said suddenly, looking at Peter, making him look to his brother in disbelief.

"Peter, there's an army out there, waiting to follow you." Peter just shook his head. I, however, thought Edmund was right. He was a strong leader. That I could see from our time training together, and how he did his best to protect his family.

"I can't," Peter denied firmly.

"Aslan believed you could, so do we," Edmund said, point a thumb towards me.

"You're the next best for this, Peter," I said with a smile. And after a moment, Peter gave me a small smile in return. Orieus approached us from a little ways away, and bowed to us respectfully, as per usual.

"The Witch's army is nearing, Sire. What are your orders?" Orieus asked. Peter paused, before looking down at the strategy board, resolution displayed in his eyes.

* * *

'_This might just work,_' I thought with a had finished going over what would be our strategy a few times, working out the kinks and positioning, and then were dismissed by Peter to prepare. I slipped on my armor that had been giving to me by a kindly cherry dryad, tying the final knots behind my back. Normally I would ask Susan for help, but she was still with Lucy at the Stone Table. '_How long are they going to stay there?_' I thought with a frown. Maybe they were on their way back now, but I doubted it. A pang of worry went through me as I thought…no. They were on their way back. I couldn't think the worst.

I slipped on my belt with my dual swords, and looked into the long mirror in the tent. Clad in the red and silver Narnian Arms, for the first time I noticed the gold lion imprinted on the red tunic over the chainmail.

The armor was surprisingly light and easy to move in. All of the Narnian's clothing was more comfortable than England's ever were. I felt a pang when I though of London, but I didn't dwell on it. Finchley seemed so far away now, just a stray thought in my mind.

"Alexa," Peter called from outside. I sighed, before grabbing my helmet and walking out.

"Yes?" I asked, stepping out of my tent.

"Let's go. It's time."

* * *

We were assembled in our positions, and waited for the griffon's word, so we could give the signal. Peter led the army at the very front, riding a pure white unicorn. I rode a black stallion at his right side, while Orieus stood tall at his left. Edmund would be above us, directing the archers and giving them their signal.

I looked up to see the griffon approaching, and backed up, giving him room to land in front of us.

"They come, your Highnesses—in numbers and weapons far greater than our own," he warned anxiously.

"Numbers do not win a battle," Orieus said wisely. Peter let out a deep breath, surveying the land in front of us.

"No, but I bet they help," Peter stated as the horns blew, signaling the arrival of the Witch.

**Aaaaaaaaand chapter seven! ****Cue the reviews! ;D You guys know the drill, I don't have to keep telling ya. **


	8. Revelation

**My thanks to Witchy Pixie for the edits. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: ****I don't own anything, or anyone except for Alexa, my OC.**

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_~Rising Above~_

Chapter Eight – Revelation

I faced forward as the Witch's troops came in sight. Her army stretched across the expanse of the field, and I couldn't help thinking the griffin was right. Their numbers were indeed far greater than ours.

A Minotaur raised his axe and uttered a guttural roar that sent the White Witch's followers into position. I shifted my gaze when the Witch herself came in a chariot pulled by white polar bears. I narrowed my eyes in concentration when I spotted something the Witch had around her neck, sowed into her dress. It was long and hairy, sandy in color. '_What is that?_' I thought. My eyes widened in shock.'_It…it's Aslan's mane. My God…_' I looked to Peter, who wore a look of sheer determination as he spoke to Orieus.

"Are you with me?" he asked the centaur.

"To the death," Orieus replied simply. Peter then looked to me, the same question in his eyes. I gave him a small grin.

"Must you ask such silly questions?" He smiled, and once again faced forward.

I summoned up my courage, oddly feeling braver than I had yet felt in Narnia. Peter unsheathed his sword in ready, and I followed suite. He looked to me one last time, before facing forward and pointing his sword out towards the battlefield. The Narnian horns blew, signaling that they were ready for battle. The sounds of unsheathing metal rang through my ears as Narnians cheered and shouted for victory.

The Witch's troops uttered mighty roars of their own and rushed forward in attack. Jadis simply stood back, her cold, calculating gaze roaming over the chaos.

Peter sent the signal for the griffins to fly overhead, dropping their large boulders over the enemy. Some were too late in realizing the danger, but a few of the enemy took out their bows and arrows, successfully shooting some of the griffin army from the sky.

As the griffins retreated, I tensed, waiting for Peter's signal.

"FOR NARNIA AND FOR ASLAN!" With those words we charged toward the enemy at an astonishing pace, Peter always slightly in front of me. '_Aslan, please be with us._'

Time seemed slow to a crawl as our two armies approached each other. In the back of my mind I could hear the fierce battle cries of the Narnians, the loud drum beating of hooves, and my own heart beat steadily racing in my chest. I raised my swords. '_Wait for it…_' I put down the face guard on my helmet as I approached a large Minotaur, and let out a deep breath.

My swords clashed against my foes as I rode through the enemy ranks. Though I felt a pang of guilt as I realized, I was killing these creatures. '_What am I doing?_' I thought, stopping in front of a werewolf. I gasped as it flew through the air, knocking me off my horse as it pounced on me. Pinned to the ground, I twisted my wrist to thrust one of my swords in its arm. It yowled in pain and dragged the massive paw away. I stabbed it again through the stomach, and crawled out from under the werewolf before it fell on me. My horse was long gone, I would have to settle for running through the battle. '_Damn._'

"Need a hand?" I looked up sharply to see Peter.

"Yes, thanks," I said as I sheathed my weapons. I then took his offered hand, climbing onto the horse behind him.

"Where is your horse?" he asked. I gave him a dry look, though I very much doubted he could see it.

"I was thrown off." Before Peter could reply, Edmund's shout could be heard from the high cliff, where the archers stood.

"_Fire!_"

"Fire? Fire what?" I asked before a fast, whizzing sound could be heard. A blood red arrow flew past us, and turned into a crimson phoenix before bursting into flames. '_Oh, that fire_,'I thought with a grin.

Peter pulled back the reigns of the horse to get out of the path of the phoenix, and we watched as it made a straight line of flames. We took a moment to cheer with all the Narnians as the Witch was blocked off from us, and the rest of the army. '_Yes!_'

I stopped, however, when Jadis's ice wand extinguished the flames, and tore through the now ineffective smoking barrier. '_No good_,' I thought with a frown.

"Fall back! Draw them to the rocks!" Peter commanded. We doubled back, along with Orieus, and headed to the rocks that lied in front of the steep cliff.

Edmund signaled the archers, who shot a multitude of arrows across the sky. I briefly looked up to see the projectiles fly overhead, and cried out as I felt myself being suddenly thrown backwards. I grabbed at nothing but air, and landed painfully on my side. Gasping for air, I shakily lifted my head from the ground to see that Peter's horse had been shot with a cross bow, and had fallen. '_Where is Peter?_' I thought, coughing and slipping an arm out from underneath me. I slowly pushed from the ground with one hand, holding my bruised side with the other.

"Peter?" I called, but I received no answer. Bringing myself to a crouch, I gasped as Orieus galloped past me, in the direction of the Witch.

The centaur never paused in his charge, though a minotaur tried in vain to grab onto him. Orieus reached back and stabbed the creature, using both swords. Having used his two weapons, Orieus took out one of the longest, and biggest swords I had ever seen. He was going to try and take the Witch's head off. I muttered a curse under my breath as the initial attack missed. He swung around and blocked her sword as it came down, but forgot her wand as she froze him to stone. My eyes stung with tears as my eyes widened. I shakily stood, but screamed as I was suddenly grabbed by the shoulders. Trying to twist out of the grip, I punched out with one arm.

"Alexa, it's me!" I stilled at the familiar voice, and turned sharply.

"Peter! Don't scare me like that! Where were you? What's happening—" Peter cut me off as I yelled through my tears.

"Come on," he said as he dragged me into a sprint, taking me by the hand.

We stopped in front of Mr. Beaver and Edmund, who was fighting a ghoul, and called out to him.

"Edmund, get out of here! Get the girls, and get them home!" Edmund looked to his brother in surprise. I gave him an incredulous look as well. I knew I wasn't going anywhere, even if Edmund had to drag me all the way back to the Lamppost.

"Alexa, you go with him as well!" I gave him a hard look.

"What makes you think we're leaving you by yourself?" I asked, unsheathing my swords and slicing the arm of a hag with one weapon, and cutting through it with the other.

"It's too dangerous, and I'm not going to see you two getting hurt," Peter said, grappling with an ogre.

"Peter—" Edmund began to protest, but his brother spoke clearly and commandingly.

"No, go! Take Alexa with you!" Peter said before jumping into the fray. Edmund sighed, and signaled for me to follow him. Reluctantly, I obliged, starting up the slope leading out of the battle field. Once Edmund was out of here I was going right back in, though. This wasn't something I could just run away from.

I looked back to see that Edmund was no longer following, and was looking intensely at the White Witch. She was heading straight for Peter. Before I could stop him, he took off running full speed towards the Witch.

"_Edmund!_" I yelled, and sprinted after him as fast as I could. I was detained by a *boggle, who slashed at me with elongated claws. I struggled to quickly gain the upper hand, but finally I was able to dispatch the creature, and began following Edmund again.

I saw him battling the Witch, and from the corner of my eye, Peter trying to get through to help his brother. It was to no avail. My heart raced as I saw Edmund destroy Jadis's wand, sparks of blue flying in every direction. I sprinted as fast as my legs could carry me. '_Almost there, I'm going to make it!_' I panted, willing myself to _move_. But I was…too late. I heard Edmund choke back a cry, as jagged ice stabbed through his stomach.

"_EDMUND!_"Peter's yell rang out through the battle field. I was frozen in my spot in front of the Witch…and Edmund who lay on the ground gasping for breath.

Jadis smirked, and took a step forward. My eyes widened in fear, though I still couldn't manage to make myself move away, or unsheathe my swords.

"A Daughter of Eve. How…disgusting," she sneered, stepping around her fallen victim.

"Alexa..._move_," Edmund wheezed from his position on the ground. My eyes lowered to him for a brief moment, before looking back up to the Witch, who raised her broken, now bloody wand.

"_Hey_." My eyes snapped to the familiar figure behind Jadis, who delivered a blow aimed for her head. Unfortunately, she spun on her heels, and deflected with her sword. Peter and the White Witch engaged furiously into their battle.

I, however, quickly knelt down next to Edmund and unclipped his helmet. His breath was coming out in ragged gasps, and when I felt his pulse, I felt it slowly falling.

"I'm sorry…I'm so sorry, I couldn't…" I said, not knowing what else I could do to help him. Where was Lucy with that cordial of hers? I sighed, wiping my eye. I looked over worriedly to Peter, who was struggling. He put everything he had into his hits, but Jadis simply threw them off to the side. She forced him back, and I gasped in fright as she nearly took his head off with a cross of her swords. Peter leaned back as far as he could without toppling over, and quickly parried a stab. He lost his balance, however, when the Witch was able to hook the tip of her sword behind his leg. It was similar to the move he pulled on me during training, I realized.

"Alexa, go…help him," Edmund said weakly. I only hesitated for a moment. I laid a gentle hand on his shoulder before taking off ahead. I was almost there, but _again_ I was too slow. Jadis had him pinned to the ground, and was about to serve the final blow. '_No!_' I gasped when the very earth shook as a mighty roar sounded, cutting through the entire field. I stopped dead in my tracks.

"Impossible," I whispered. The Great Lion Himself ran toward us, and before she could move an inch, He pounced. I looked away, as the White Witch was finished off. Instead, I ran to Peter, and helped him up from the ground.

"Are you alright?" I asked with a frown, touching my hand gently to a gash on his forehead.

"Fine, are you?" he replied with a soft smile, grasping my hand with his. I blushed, but smiled at his use of my words.

"Somehow that worked better when I said it the first time," I remarked. Before he could comment, Susan and Lucy approached us from behind.

"What happened to you two? I thought you were coming back in the morning!" I said as Susan hugged me, a grin spread across her face.

"I think you can figure it out. Where's Edmund?" she asked, a frown marring her features. My eyes widened in shock. '_Edmund!_' We all ran to where he laid still on the grass. I couldn't hear him breathing. Lucy immediately unscrewed her cordial, and shakily poured a drop into his mouth. It was the longest few seconds of my life, as I watched Edmund stop breathing entirely. Tears slipped down my face anew as I looked to my hands in my lap. '_If only I had been quicker, if only I hadn't been so slow…_'

But I heard a gasp of breath. I snapped my head back up to see the color returning to Edmund's face. He started coughing, sucking in lost air. A wide smile spread across my face. I was surprised, however, when Peter dragged his little brother into a firm embrace.

"When, for once, are you going to do as you're told?" Peter asked, laughing through his tears. Edmund smiled broadly, and only laughed in response. We attacked him with our hugs, and only pulled away when Aslan made us aware of His presence.

"It is finished. But there is still work to be done," He said with a knowing smile as He glanced at Lucy. She smiled, and unscrewed her cordial.

***Boggles: "****…are followers of the White Witch (LWW). According to **_**A Guide to Narnia**_**, 'boggle' is another name for a Hobgoblin. In the 2005 film, they are portrayed as troll-like imps with mole and swinish features." –excerpt from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. **


	9. A New Age

**Ello again! T****his will be the last chapter. Again I owe my thanks to my beta, Witchy Pixie, for sticking with me through this whole story. Please read the author's note after the chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything or anyone except for Alexa, my OC.**

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_~Rising Above~_

Chapter Nine – A New Age

"So, I'm not very good at this apparently," I said. Susan looked over as she laced the back of her navy, satin dress. '_She looks pretty in blue_,' I reflected. The bodice was a corset with intricate ties laces about the front that tapered out into a flowing skirt.

"You look beautiful," I complimented with a smile. She returned the smile and came over to her bed, where I stood with two dresses laid out for inspection.

"Thanks. You need help choosing?" she asked as I sighed.

"I'm afraid so. I've never been one for fashion, but I noticed that all of our dresses are corsets," I replied with a small grin.

"Yes, and all of their cuts leave the sleeves resting a little below the shoulders, but they're comfortable…I think this one would do better for you," said Susan, holding up another dress.

"I was leaning towards that one myself. Alright, I'll try it on." As I grabbed the dress and headed behind the changing screen, Susan walked over to the full length mirror beside the bed.

"Hey, Su, could you help me tie it in the back?" Susan looked over her shoulder at me.

"Sure," she said. At the same time, there came a knock at Susan's bedroom, and the peak of a curly, brunette head.

"You two almost done?" Lucy asked, stepping inside. She smiled as she saw us, and helped Susan's task by moving my hair to the side.

"Thanks, her hair was getting tangled in the knots," said Susan.

"Sorry, my hair is a bit long," I said with a sheepish grin as she tied the final lace.

"It's no problem, but you do look beautiful in that dress. Silver suits you," Susan replied with a smile.

"Yes, and the naiad that fixed our hair and faces did a spectacular job," commented Lucy as I walked over to the mirror. My eyes widened as I regarded myself. The dress was a lovely shade of silvery white, not unlike Lucy's own dress. Though at the waistline, the skirt broke in an "A" shape down the middle, revealing a navy underskirt.

"We look like queens," I said with a small smile. Susan rested her hand on my shoulder, also looking at me through the mirror.

"We _are_ queens, now," she replied.

We met Peter, Edmund, and Aslan before a golden, winding staircase that led to the throne room. We then stood next to Aslan, getting into line. From the left to the right we stood thus; Edmund, Peter, me, Susan, and Lucy. Aslan stood at the center, between Peter and me.

"You three look beautiful," said the Great Lion. Before we could thank Him, the trumpets sounded. It was our cue. We began our ascent, and I saw the centaurs lining up to raise their swords in salute. Mr. and Mrs. Beaver walked behind us, carrying the crowns with Mr. Tumnus. They made their way to the side as we approached, and stood in front of our thrones.

"To the glistening Eastern Sea, I give you Queen Lucy, the Valiant," Aslan announced, making Lucy gasp quietly in excitement. Mr. Tumnus picked up a silver circlet, twisting vines of leaves and flowers winding about it. He gently placed it on her head, smiling all the way.

"To the great Western Wood, I give you King Edmund, the Just." The faun now picked up a great crown of silver, and placed it on his head as well.

"To the radiant Southern Sun, I give you Queen Susan, the Gentle." Susan's circlet was the exact same design as Lucy's circlet that now adorned her head, but in gold instead of silver.

"To the shining stars above, I give you Queen Alexa, the Courageous." '_Courageous? There must have been a mistake_,' I thought. But I was almost shaking with excitement as Mr. Tumnus approached me with a golden circlet, not unlike Susan's, and placed it upon my head. I gave him a grateful smile, and he returned it before picking up the last crown.

"And to the clear Northern Sky, I give you High King Peter, the Magnificent." Aslan accentuated these words with a great, booming authority in his voice. It sent the Narnians into praises and cheers for their newfound monarchs. He returned it before we turned to face the front and gracefully sit in our thrones for the first time as kings and queens of Narnia.

"Once a King or Queen of Narnia, always a King or Queen. May your wisdom guide us until the stars fall from the heavens," finished Aslan before turning to the rest of the crowd.

"Long live King Peter! Long live Queen Alexa! Long live Queen Susan! Long live King Edmund! Long live Queen Lucy!" the crowd chanted. We looked out to who would now be our people, who we would serve in dedication for the rest of our lives.

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"Thank you, your Majesty," said the faun as he bowed low in respect.

"No, thank you. Enjoy the rest of the party," I replied as I curtsied. The upbeat tune came to an end, only to be replaced by another one just as jovial. I smiled, and looked around for Susan or Lucy. I turned when I was tapped on the shoulder.

"Enjoying the festivities?" Susan asked.

"Yes! The songs and dances are different, but very happy," I said with a smile as Edmund got practically dragged onto the dance floor by an enthusiastic dryad.

"I know. I believe it's what makes the party so alive. But come on, let's get some food in us," Susan said, leading us to the many assortments of hors d'oeuvres. We sat down with our plates, eating in a comfortable silence next to the balcony. I blinked in confusion as I heard Lucy's voice, light, but sad.

"Where is He going?" I heard Lucy say.

"Who knows…but don't worry. We will see Him again, someday. But we mustn't press Him. After all, He's not a tame lion," Mr. Tumnus said, a hint of disappointment in his voice as well.

"No…but He is good," replied Lucy. I peered over my shoulder at the two to see Mr. Tumnus give Lucy a white handkerchief.

"Here, you need it more than I do," he said, a smile playing on his lips. Lucy returned it, and continued to watch the broad sea as it glistened with the dusk.

I smiled, though I felt a pang of sadness as I realized, they must have been speaking of Aslan. Why He left, I would never know. But I knew I would never forget the things He said to me, the kind words He gave.

_I hesitantly approached the Great Lion, who sat before the dais. He gave a cat's smile, and encouraged me with His eyes._

"_Yes, Young One?" He questioned. I paused, but continued in my resolve._

"_Sir…I feel I am…inadequate," I said, not being able to meet His probing eyes._

"_Of what, Child?" _

"_Well…I feel that I don't deserve the title given to me," I replied softly._

"_And what title would that be?" I sighed, hesitating to answer._

"_What title, Child?" He asked again. I heard the rumble in His voice, the quiet authority that could command the heavens to fall before Him if He so wished it._

"_I am not courageous, as you say. I'm not bold, or heroic. I don't deserve the title of Alexa the Courageous. That is the opposite of who I am." I heard a low growl, and looked up sharply, slightly nervous. Then I stared deep into those amber eyes, and felt at peace once more._

_"Would I name you anything other than what you are?" began Aslan.__ "Courageous people are not fearless; rather they simply face their fear and do what they must in spite of it." _

"Alexa, are you alright?" I blinked in confusion as Susan brought me out of my reverie.

"Yes, I'm fine. Just thinking," I said, grinning sheepishly. I heard the clearing of someone's throat, and looked up.

"My lady, may I have this dance?" Peter said with a grin. I glanced at Susan, who offered to hold my plate for me. I obliged her, and smiling, hesitantly took his hand. He led me to the dance floor, shifting my hand in his. I blushed lightly as I felt his hand along my waist, but soon came into step with the slow, steady beat of the dance. '_Maybe…coming here was all part of the plan…Aslan's plan,_' I thought with a smile, swaying gently to the music.

**THAT'****S IT! **_**Rising Above**_** is **_**finis**_**! But I'm not through writing yet. There will be a sequel, as most of you know. But perhaps not the one you were expecting first. You all can expect the first chapter of **_**The In Between Times**_** in a few days or so, which will take place during the Golden Age. **

**Please let me know what you thought of this story, now that the entire thing is revised**** and mostly de-Sueitized. **

**I am also working on another story not related to this fic, but is also in the Chronicles of Narnia fandom. It's a parody co-written with Witchy Pixie, called **_**The Marvelous Adventures of a Mary-Sue: Chronicles of Narnia**_**. It is also a companion piece to our first parody, **_**The Marvelous Adventures of a Mary-Sue: Inheritance Cycle**_**, for those of you who read **_**Inheritance**_**. **

**Thank you guys so much for your reviews, comments, and reading of my story. I love you all! ^_^**

—**E2189 **


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